Breeding of the Leaser White-fronted Goose. 129


effect upon other forms of life that the mind of man may never be

able fully to trace and grasp them,” says Prof. Forbush; but this

must not be advanced as a reason why we should not steadily pursue

our investigations of the subject, knowing how directly it affects

mankind. If we do not we are jeopardising our food-supply, im¬

poverishing the land, and lagging behind in the progress of knowledge,

and for such apathy and omissions Nature will surely sooner or later

demand just retribution.



BREEDING OF THE LESSER WHITE-

FRONTED GOOSE.


By W. H. St. Quintin.


It is, I think, worth recording that a young Lesser White-

fronted Goose (.4. erythropus ) was reared here this summer. I have

had three of these birds since July, 1914. They were in rough con¬

dition when they came, and very wild—indeed, they are still much

less confiding than any other wild Geese that I have kept, partly no

doubt because they are in a large enclosure, where they almost get

their own living. I believe there is a gander and two geese.


On June 2nd my keeper reported a Goose’s egg in a nest

built against a fence some five yards from the water, and on the next

day I surprised, near the site, a single Goose, which flattened itself

out on the water and stole away, so of course I made myself scarce.

After this I never found the bird off her eggs, and I never once saw

the Gander near the nest. He was always in the company of the

third bird, generally at a considerable distance.


The Goose must have started to incubate when she laid her

first egg, for on June 28th I found that she had hatched a single

Gosling, which I saw being escorted away by both parents from the

bank where the nest was. I w r as so anxious not to disturb the family

party that I hurried away, unfortunately taking it for granted that any

other eggs must be unfertile. But there was a young bird in each, and

if I had put them under a hen at once no doubt they would have

been safely hatched. As it was, it was not till the 30th that I

revisited the nest, thinking to blow the remaining eggs for specimens.



