ISO JUNGLE FOLK 



rutila) by their lighter colour. Moreover, the curious 

 note of this last species is very different from the cackle 

 of geese. Brahminy ducks go about in couples ; geese 

 fly in flocks. 



Like most birds which breed in the far north, geese 

 are largely nocturnal ; their cries as they fly overhead 

 are among the commonest of the sounds which break 

 the stillness of the winter night in Upper India. They 

 feed mainly in the hours of darkness, and do a certain 

 amount of damage to the young wheat ; nor do they 

 leave their feeding ground until the sun is high in the 

 heavens, when they repair to a river bank or shallow 

 lake, where they love to bask in the sun, all with the 

 head tucked under the wing, save one or two who do 

 duty as sentinels. 



The grey lag goose of India is, I believe, identical 

 with the wild goose of England. This is a belief not 

 shared by everyone. For over a century this species 

 has been the plaything of the systematist. Linnaeus 

 classed ducks and geese as one genus — Anas. This 

 goose he called Anas anser, the goose-duck. But it 

 was soon recognised that ducks and geese are not 

 sufficiently nearly related to form a common genus ; 

 hence, the geese were formed into the genus Anser, 

 and the grey lag goose was then called Anser cinereus, 

 the ashy-coloured goose, a not inappropriate name, 

 although the bird is brown rather than grey. But the 

 name was not allowed to stand. For some reason or 

 other it was changed to Anser ferus. Then it was 

 altered to Anser anser — the goosey goose, presumably 

 meaning the goose par excellence. Then Salvadori 



