224 THE NESTS AND EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



Family ANATID/E. ■- Genus Ansek. 



Sub-family ANSERINJE. 



GRAY-LAG GOOSE. 



Anser cinereus, Meyer. 

 Single Brooded. Laying season, April and May. 



British breeding area : Nearly a hundred years 

 have passed since the Gray-Lag Goose bred in the fens 

 and marshes of East Anglia. Its principal breeding area 

 now is in the Outer Hebrides, but the bird still continues 

 to nest in Ross-shire, Sutherlandshire, and Caithness. 

 In Ireland this Goose breeds in a semi-domesticated 

 state at Castle Coole, in Co. Monaghan. 



Breeding habits: The Gray-Lag Goose is a resi- 

 dent in the British Islands, but its numbers are increased 

 during winter by arrivals from more northern latitudes. 

 The favourite breeding-grounds of this Goose are wild 

 moors and swamps. I am of opinion that the bird pairs 

 for life. It is perhaps more gregarious in winter than in 

 summer, but even in the breeding season continues its 

 social instincts, and numbers of pairs very often nest on 

 a small area of ground. The nest is almost invariably 

 made on the ground, either amongst the tall heather on 

 the moors, or in the rank vegetation of the swamps, but 

 occasionally it is said to be built on the ledge of a rock. 

 It is a huge structure, as much as three feet in diameter 

 at the base, and more than a foot high. Externally it is 

 made, according to the locality, of branches and twigs 

 of heather, dead rushes and reeds, dry grass, bracken, 

 leaves, and turf, and lined with moss, and, as incubation 

 progresses, more and more thickly with down and 

 feathers, plucked by the female from her breast. This 

 bird is rather a close sitter, and the male keeps constant 



