GREY LAG GOOSE. 257 



in 1807, says that he took two broods in one season, which 

 he turned down, after having pinioned them, with the Com- 

 mon Geese ; both parties seemed shy at first, but they soon 

 associated, and remained very good friends. Grey Lag 

 Geese have long since ceased to breed in Lincohishire, and 

 Mr. Cordeaux informs the Editor that they appear to become 

 rarer in the Humber district every year ; and further north, 

 along the east coast, the species is almost unknown. On the 

 west side of our island it is also rare ; and during his long 

 experience the late Mr. Rodd only knew three instances of 

 its occurrence in Cornwall and the Scilly Islands. Certain 

 it is that now the Grey Lag Goose is comparatively a rare 

 bird at any season, and whole winters pass away without 

 a single example occurring in the London market, though 

 the bird is well known to some who are constantly upon the 

 look-out for it. A few specimens appeared in October 1837, 

 and in January 1838, and the Author considered himself 

 fortunate in obtaining two specimens in March 1840, at the 

 common Wild Goose price, of a poulterer who did not know 

 them as distinct from the Bean Goose. On the south coast 

 of England identified specimens are almost equally rare. 



In Scotland, as Mr. Harvie-Brown informs the Editor, 

 this species is perhaps the rarest of the ' Grey ' Geese on 

 migration ; he only met with it once in Stirlingshire, and 

 never heard of another. It still breeds, however, although 

 in decreasing numbers, in Sutherland, Ross, and Caithness, 

 on the mainland ; and, more abundantly, on the islands of the 

 Outer and Inner Hebrides. It is, in fact, the only species 

 of Wild Goose which nests in Scotland, for the statements 

 of Selby as to the breeding of the Bean Goose in Suther- 

 landshire, and of Macgillivray as to the nesting of the Pink- 

 footed Goose in the Hebrides, have never been confirmed. 

 In bad weather the Grey Lag Goose is an accidental visitor 

 to Orkney and Shetland, but it is not known to breed there. 



In Ireland it is, as a rule, rare in a wild state at any season, 

 but Sir R. Payne-Gallwey states that on the lake at Castle 

 Coole (Lord Belmore's), in co. Monaghan, there are over a 

 hundred true Grey Lag Geese which never stray far from 



VOL. IV. L L 



