214 British Birds, 



ORDER— ANSERES. 

 FAMILY I.— ANATID^. 



GREY-LAG GOOSE— (^;/^^r ferus). 



Grey-legged Goose, Grey Goose, Wild Goose. — It is 

 not proposed to give any illustrations whatever of the 

 eggs of the Wild-fowl — the Geese, Swans, Ducks, and 

 Diving Ducks — inasmuch as they are not only of large 

 size, and would usurp much space to the absolute ex- 

 clusion of many others of much interest and urgently 

 demanding pictorial illustration, but, also, are charac- 

 terised by so much sameness or general uniformity of 

 colour ; — for they vary only, in that respect, about as 

 much as the eggs of the common Fowl and common 

 Duck do. A w^ry large proportion of them, moreover, 

 never by any chance breed in any portion of the 

 British Islands, but resort to distant and very northerly 

 localities for that purpose. The first on our list, the 

 Common Grey, or Wild, Goose, is an instance in point. 

 It is believed once to have been a regular inhabitant, 

 and to have bred abundantly in the fenny districts 

 which then prevailed over many parts of the kingdom, 

 not at all near or connected with what is yet called 

 "the fen country." But now it is comparatively a 

 rare bird at any season of the year, and nests no 

 nearer to us than some of the isles and coasts of 

 Scandinavia. 



WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE— (^^^i'^;' albifrons). 

 Laughing Goose. — A regular winter visitor, and not 



