2 34 HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS 



on British Wild Geese, Naturalist, 1858, p. 271.) 

 It used to breed, according to Pennant, in Lin- 

 colnshire in 1769, in the fens between Cambridge 

 and Ely about 1773, and in Quy, Waterbeach, Swaff- 

 ham, and Wicken fens at the end of the last cen- 

 tury {Zool, 1879, p. 7Q ; 1883, pp. 384, 432). 



The name Grey Lag, bestowed on this species 

 by most writers on British ornithology, is appa- 

 rently a corruption of the A.S. leag, that is, lea 

 or field-goose, possibly so named to distinguish it 

 from the marine root-goose (in old records rut- 

 goose), i.e. the Brent, which feeds much on the roots 

 of Zostera marina. This suggestion, however, does 

 not meet with the approval of Prof. Skeat, who 

 states that no Anglo-Saxon word ending in g still 

 preserves the g in modern English. The g, he ob- 

 serves, became a y before 1100 a.d. For other 

 suggested derivations of the word lag, see Ibis, 

 1870, p. 301, and Newton, "Diet. Birds." 



The weight of a young Grey Goose is from 7 to 

 8 lbs. ; of an adult from 9 to 10 lbs. 



BEAN GOOSE. Anser segetum (Gmelin). PI. 27, fig. 2. 

 Length, 34 in.; bill, 2-4 in.; wing, 19 in.; tarsus, 

 2-6 in. 



A winter visitant from the tundras bordering 

 the Petchora River, where it breeds commonly. 

 It was stated by Macgillivray that this species fre- 

 quented the Hebrides in summer, but this proved 

 to be a mistake, although it is common there in 

 winter. According to Selby, it was found breed- 



