40 BIRDS OF ICELAND 



Anser cinereus, Meyer. GtRey Lag-Goose. 



Native name : ' Gragaes ' (old form ' gragas '). 



The Geese of Iceland are a dreadful puzzle. I really 

 think the more any one investigates them, the less he 

 knows about the matter. 



At all events, the present species is the Wild Goose 

 of Iceland, and seems largely to outnumber all the 

 others put together. It is a summer visitor, breeding 

 in out-of-the-way parts of the interior, in view of the 

 fact that at moulting-time geese are practically flight- 

 less and need, therefore, seclusion from all possible 

 foes. It does not seem justifiable to suppose, as 

 writers on the birds of Iceland have done, that one 

 species of goose breeds in the north and another in the 

 south. They all alike breed in the desert interior, as 

 far as they can get from man, with enough vegetation 

 for the young, when born, to feed on. If the river on 

 which they nest runs south, they make their way 

 southwards when the young can travel and moulting 

 dangers are nearly past; if north, then vice versa. 

 Many of the rivers rise in the south (e.g. those from 

 the Vatna Jokull) and flow north, so that a bird which 

 makes its appearance on the Skjalfandafljot (for ex- 

 ample) may have bred in the very south of Iceland, 

 where that river rises. 



The nest is placed on the ground, amongst willow 

 bushes, if there are any, or any kind of vegetation, 

 and is not uncommonly on an island in a lake or 

 river. This is not entirely to avoid man (the great 



