GREY LAG-GOOSE. 3 



reconnoitre. Grain, grass, clover, and other vegetable substances 

 are their regular food ; in many places they can find sufficient 

 grass on the saltings without risking trips to the cultivated land. 



Migratory Grey Lags reach us from mid-September onwards, 

 and remain until April or May. Certain localities attract the 

 bird, which is more plentiful on the west than east coast ; even 

 in the west and in Ireland it is local. The call in flight is loud 

 and sharp, a deep sonorous ackh, ackh, almost exactly the note 

 of the domestic goose, of which it is probably the most direct 

 ancestor ; when the birds settle, the clonking clamour resembles 

 that of other greys. During the breeding season the pair con- 

 verse in familiar language, the contented undertones of the farm- 

 yard. On land it walks with ease and dignity, without the waddle 

 of the overfed domestic bird ; it swims lightly, and if threatened 

 during the moult, when through the simultaneous loss of the 

 flight feathers the bird is helpless, it dives with skill. In flight 

 the slow, measured beats betoken strength, and the speed 

 attained has astonished many an inexperienced sportsman. 



The nest is large, placed in thick heather, rushes, or other 

 vegetation. Little or no lining is provided when, in mid-April, 

 the four to six yellowish-white eggs are laid, but the goose con- 

 stantly adds down until the eggs are concealed. The average 

 size, according to the Rev. F. C. R. Jourdain, is 3*4 ins. by 

 2*3 ins. The sitting goose (Plate 3) is shy and nervous, turning 

 her head from side to side, her neck feathers dividing in sinuous 

 creases ; she is on the alert to sight or scent danger, as Miss 

 E. L. Turner found when photographing the bird figured. 

 The down-clad yellowish-brown and yellow goslings are usually 

 hatched in May ; their under surface is at first a wonderlul 

 golden yellow. 



The head and neck of the adult bird is light brown, the 

 upper parts, greyish brown, darkest on the wings and scapulars ; 

 the shoulders, lower back, and rump are blue-grey. The ashy- 

 grey tail is tipped and bordered with white, and the upper and 



