Wild Geese 169 



earlier than the Goose ; this may be of some service in the preserva- 

 tion of the species, as it shortens the time when both parents are 

 helpless as regards flight. 



Thev feed b\- dav, and bv night as well, if there be sufficient 

 light. 



The food of the Grey -geese consists, in the main, of various 

 kinds of grasses, but they will greedily eat corn, potatoes, clovers 

 and many of the winter-sown farm crops. The Brent Goose is 

 entirely a marine-feeding species, Zostera marina, the " Brent-" or 

 " Wigeon-" grass, as the fowlers call it, forming their staple diet. 

 Its hours of feeding are, of course, governed by the tide. 



Voice. — Every species of Goose with which I am acquainted 

 has a distinct and easily-recognizable cry, but all these cries have a 

 ver}^ marked family likeness. To me it is impossible to express any 

 Goose's cry in words, still more to distinguish one species from the 

 other by a different form of written letters. The familiar type of 

 voice on which all these cries are based is that of the domesticated 

 farm-^-ard Goose. This we generally speak of as a cackle, and the 

 word connotes something definite, because experience has taught 

 us to associate the written word with a familiar sound. The " fio/ik- 

 hoiik of the \\\\d Goose " so beloved by writers in the evening press, is 

 entirely unintelligible to me. I have never heard any Goose, grey, 

 black, or other colour, which uttered a sound having any similarity 

 to " honk " to my ears. I think it wiser to speak of the " cackle " 

 or " gaggle " of wild Geese, at the same time pointing out that every 

 species is quite distinct from its fellows, and can be easily recognised 

 by those who are familiar with the note. I do not think it possible 

 to describe the noise, the cackle of farm-yard Geese, in words. 

 Still less is it possible to define the minute sound-distinctions which 

 render the cry of one species easily separable from that of another. 

 In South Uist, one of the outer Hebrides, I was in daily contact for 

 two months with three different species of Geese, the Grey-lag, the 

 White-front and the Barnacle, and in a very short time learnt to 

 recognise their separate voices and to identify the species by ear, 

 long before I could tell what Geese they were by sight ; but I am 

 quite unable to describe these variations of tones in words, to myself, 

 and if I succeeded in doing so, they would be meaningless to anyone 

 who had not heard the sound, and from the sound learnt to know how 

 my particular reading ought to be intoned. 



Flight.— Geese, as is well-known, fly in a peculiar and regulated 

 manner, very commonly in the form of a wedge, or inverted V. 

 The two limbs of the V may be, and often are, of very different 

 length. Frequently the V is replaced by a line in Indian file, either 

 a straight or a wavy string. Wild-fowlers speak of a " skein " 

 (the wedge formation) or a " string " (the linear formation), or a 

 " gaggle " of geese (the latter term referring to the sound they make). 

 When Geese are seriously migrating, they commonly fly either in a 

 skein or string. When they are simply moving about from place 



