BEAN-GOOSE 229 



on the shoulder of the wing ; legs and feet orange-yellow. Length, 

 thirty-four inches. 



This species is more arctic in its range than the grey lag, and 

 has not been known to breed in this country, except in a domestic 

 state. It visits Scotland, Ireland, and the north and east coasts of 

 England, in winter. It is less in size than the grey lag, but its 

 habits are similar : by day it feeds on the wolds and stubbles, and 

 its love of grain has won for it the common name of bean-goose, as 

 weU as its scientific name, segetum. Its flight is somewhat 

 laboured, with measured wing-beats, but powerful and rapid, and 

 the birds travel in skeins, or in a phalanx formation. It breeds in 

 extensive marshes and lakes, making its nest on the ground among 

 the rushes on small islands. The nest is a slight hollow lined with 

 dead grass and moss, and down from the parent bird: three or 

 four eggs are laid, creamy white in colour, with a rough granular 

 surface. Before the young are able to fly the moulting season 

 begins, when the birds lose the power of flight, as is the case with 

 all the geese ; and according to Seebohm's interesting account, even 

 in the remote and desolate districts in Siberia, to which this bird 

 resorts to breed, the moulting season is one of great danger to it. 

 He says : • The Samoyades in the valley of the Petchora gave us 

 glowing accounts of the grand battues which they used to have at 

 these times, surroimding the geese, killing them with sticks, and 

 collecting sacks full of down and feathers.' 



Pink-footed Goose. 



Anser brachyrhynchus. 



Colour of plumage as in the bean-goose, but with the bluish 

 grey on the shoulder of the wing as in the grey lag goose ; upper 

 mandible pink in the centre ; base, edges, and nail black ; legs and 

 feet pink. Length, twenty-eight inches. 



This goose very closely resembles the bean-goose in habits, 

 colour, and general appearance ; the only difference of any importance 

 between the two species consists in the smaller beak of the pink- 

 foot, from which it takes its name of brachyrhynchus (short-billed), 

 and in its legs being pink instead of yellow. It was first described 

 as a distinct species about fifty years ago, but is still regarded by 

 some authorities as only an * island form ' of the bean -goose. The 



