Grey-lag Goose i8i 



as a foundation, and some moss and loose blades of grass complete 

 the building. To this the female adds down plucked from her breast, 

 on which tlie eggs repose, and which is constantly added to during 

 the period of incubation. It is with this down that she covers her 

 eggs when leaving to feed, etc. The eggs are moderately large, 3.5 

 by 2.4 inches, creamy white, and smooth in texture. The number 

 varies considerably, both with the season and the age of the bird. 

 In S. Uist three to six form the clutch, as many as seven being very 

 rarely found. In the spring of igii, most of the clutches were small 

 and seldom exceeded four, although the number of nests was above 

 the a\'erage. The eggs are generally laid from the 15th to 25th 

 April, by which time the nests are full. Incubation is said to last 

 28 davs,"^ so that the goslings hatch out from the middle of May. 

 They are, of course, covered with down, olive-brown on the back ; 

 head, neck and upper breast yellowish-green, and belly and under- 

 parts pale sandy-yellow. There is, however, a good deal of variation 

 in the colouring of goslings, even between individuals from the same 

 nest. The}' are able to walk, run, swim and feed themselves from 

 the time they leave the shell. They are taken to the water at the 

 earliest possible moment by the parents, and both assist in covering 

 the nestlings at night. "As a very exceptional occurrence, the 

 S. Uist keeper told me he had, on one occasion, found goslings 

 hatched out by the end of the first week in April, but the main 

 hatching may be looked for somewhere about the middle of May. 



The next event of importance is the moult, which takes place 

 when the young are three or four weeks old. If the movement of 

 the immature, non-breeding birds from the low ground to the hills 

 may be taken as a criterion, this should be about mid-June, 

 the Gander a little earlier than the Goose. The moult lasts, from 

 start to finish, some six weeks, so that from June 15th to August 

 1st (of course these dates are only approximate) all the Geese in the 

 island are without the power of flight. The goslings have not 

 attained their flight feathers, and the remainder of the Geese, 

 whether immature or breeding, have cast their quills in a body, and 

 are busily engaged in reproducing a new set. 



At such time the Geese are a ready prey to any enemx' the\- ma}- 

 meet on land, and, in consequence, they spend their days on the 

 water, or so near it that they can readily reach it at the first sign of 

 danger. Sir Arthur Orde told me that on one occasion, towards the 

 end of July, he was anxious to shoot some seals (N. Uist), and sent 

 his keeper round to spy a sea loch, which ran up into the hills. 



The keeper presently returned with the report that there were 

 plenty of seals, but that all the Grey Geese on the ground, old, 

 immature and goslings, were also on the loch, and strongly advised 

 his master to defer his seal shooting under these circumstances. 

 The danger he feared was that the disturbance caused by firing at 

 the seals, would drive all the flightless Geese on to the land, where 

 they would fall a ready prey to the passing crofter and his dog. 



