2/8 



DUCK GROUP 



28 inches in Iciv^th, and the g^oose an inch less.^ The weight is from 

 6^ to 7 lbs., and thus considerably less than that of the bean-goose, 

 which ranges from 7 ^ to 8 lbs. In young birds the general colour 

 of the plumage is duller than in the adult, the lesser wing-coverts are 

 brown, and there is little or no pink on the beak. Uniform grey is the 

 colour of the down of the gosling. 



Although accurate details with regard to the extent of its breeding 

 area arc lacking, the pink-footed goose is known to nest in Scandinavia, 



Iceland, Spitzbergen, 

 and Franz-Josef- 

 land ; in winter it 

 migrates south, in 

 the main, apparently, 

 to western Europe. 

 Although unfounded 

 reports of its having 

 formerly bred in the 

 Hebrides were once 

 current, the present 

 species is known 

 only as a winter- 

 visitor to the British 

 Isles, where it is most 

 abundant on the east 

 coast of Scotland 

 (especially the Firth 

 of Forth, where it is 

 the most common of the wild geese) and certain districts of Norfolk. 

 In the south and west of England it is but rarely seen, and it is only 

 somewhat less uncommon on the west coast of Scotland and in the 

 Hebrides ; while up to the date of writing only a single example had 

 been obtained in Ireland, although the species has apparently been 

 recognised there on at least one other occasion. 



Extreme shyness seems to be one of the characteristic traits of the 

 pink-footed goose, which is believed to nest in Spitzbergen in part on 

 low rocks near the coast and in part on inland cliffs. 



At Holkham, in Norfolk, when the tide is out, these geese pass 

 their time out of harm's way on sand-spits, but resort to corn-lands in 

 search of such grain as may have been left on the stubbles. 



' One writer gives the maximum length as 26 and another as 30 inches ; a wide diflference 

 in a matter of less than a yard '. 



I'l.NK-FUOTliU GOOSK. 



