NARROW-BILLED GREY GOOSE. 601 



fact was at Lairg, where we were informed that a few pairs 

 bred upon some islands about twelve miles up Loch Shin. 

 We accordingly took boat the following morning, and upon 

 arriving at the place discovered a single pair, attended by 

 four or five young goslings. None were obtained, as the old 

 birds, being wild, escaped seemingly uninjured, although 

 repeatedly fired at ; and the goslings immediately dived, and 

 escaped into the reeds and other herbage. Upon Loch 

 Naver we also found several pairs attended by their young, 

 seemingly about a fortnight or three weeks old, one of 

 which, after a severe chase, we procured. Upon the islands 

 of Loch Laighal from thirty to forty pairs, we were in- 

 formed, annually had their nests. We saw several old birds 

 and the nests that had been used, which are concealed in 

 heath upwards of three feet in height that covers the islands. 

 The eggs were all hatched, and most of the young had 

 betaken themselves to the neighbouring moors, where they 

 continue till able to fly, secreting themselves, when dis- 

 turbed, in the highest heather. At Tongue we saw some 

 goslings about a month old (following a hen), which had 

 been hatched from eggs taken at Loch Laighal. We were 

 told that they became nearly as tame as common Geese, but 

 refuse to intermix or breed with them. The eggs, from five 

 to seven in number, are smaller than those of the common 

 Goose, but of a similar shape and colour." Mr. St. John 

 also mentions their breeding in Loch Shin, and other lonely 

 and unfrequented pieces of water in Sutherland. 



Young. — The young in winter have the head and neck 

 of a lighter tint, approaching to yellowish-grey ; the feathers 

 there of a softer texture, almost silky, with numerous small 

 bristle plumelets projecting on the cheeks. There are three 

 narrow, semilunar, white spots at the base of the upper 

 mandible, the small feathers there being of that colour, and 

 those immediately behind them dark brown ; so that one, 

 not attending to the form of the bill, might imagine them to 

 be the young of the White-fronted Goose. The upper parts 

 are darker than in the adult, and the lower less white. 



