GEESE 305 



side. I often watch the countless thousands of these birds 

 on the low shores of the Wash. They are extremely wary 

 and cautious, and take wing long before the observer is any- 

 where near them. It is a grand impressive sight to w^atch 

 these big birds rise in one dense cloud with much confusion 

 of wings, and fly close above the water to a distant part of 

 the coast. For the moment it seems as if the very mudbank 

 was rising into the air. Their noisy clamour, loud as the 

 braying of a hundred trumpets, comes echoing over the 

 wide expanse of mud, as the birds stand on the banks and 

 preen their feathers. What a sense of life these birds give 

 to the shore ! How exciting and interesting to watch the 

 masses of birds busy feeding, or perhaps standing fast asleep ! 

 There are always several birds, however, on the look-out, 

 watchful sentinels over the sleeping company, and ready 

 to sound the warning note at the least alarm, which usually 

 sends most of the old birds off at once — the young and less 

 experienced allowing a much nearer approach. I have some- 

 times seen a flock of Brent Geese sleeping on the sea some 

 distance from land, but in every case one or two birds were 

 always awake, and on the alert for danger. In many 

 localities these birds only come inshore to feed at low water, 

 when the tide has left the mudbanks bare, on which their 

 favourite grass is abundant. Here they come, as soon as 

 any of the bank is visible, remaining until the last bit is 

 covered again with the rising tide. 



The Pink-footed Goose (Anser hrachyrhynchus), distin- 

 guished by its flesh-coloured legs and feet, and yellow bill 

 with dark base and nail, and the Bean Goose (Anser segehtiii), 

 characterised by its orange-yellow legs and feet, and yellow 

 bill with dark base and nail, also visit us every winter in enor- 

 mous numbers ; but they are very different in their habits, and 

 love to frequent the stubbles and fields of autumn-sown grain. 

 They resort by choice to the largest fields, and usually keep 



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