GREY LAG GOOSE. 259 



species of large Grey Goose, as yet unidentified, has also been 

 observed in Ceylon. 



The nest of the Grey Lag Goose is placed on the ground 

 in a tuft of coarse grass, or among rank heather, and is 

 composed of grass, dried flags, &c,, without any true lining 

 until the eggs are deposited, after which the sitting female 

 keeps on plucking down from her breast and surrounding 

 them with it. The eggs are usually six in number, but 

 twelve are said to have been found ; their colour is a dull 

 yellowish- white, and the average measurements are 3*5 by 

 2-4 in. In Scotland this Goose is an early breeder, generally 

 hatching out by the middle of May ; but in Northern Europe 

 incubation is somewhat later. The males leave the fens 

 when the females begin to sit, and collect in flocks near the 

 water, to which the females conduct their young when they 

 are ready to go. 



This species feeds inland, and, unless very much harassed, 

 always by daylight ; its aliment consisting of vegetable sub- 

 stances ; but at dusk it sometimes resorts to the neighbour- 

 hood of the sea, where sand-banks, promontories, and low 

 islands enable it to roost unmolested. The sportsman's term 

 for a flock of Geese is a " gaggle," probably from the noise 

 made by the birds. 



The beak is of a pink flesh-colour, the horny nail at the 

 extremity of each mandible white ; the irides brown ; the 

 head, nape, back of the neck, and the upper part of the back, 

 ash-brown, the latter-named part with lighter-coloured 

 edges ; inner portion of the wings, scapulars, and tertials, 

 lead-grey, with broad and lighter grey-coloured margins ; 

 upper wing-coverts, and all the feathers on the primary 

 portion of the wing, except the quill-feathers beyond the 

 first three, very light bluish-grey ; the three outer quill- 

 feathers also light grey on the upper portion : — the rest dark 

 lead-grey — all with white shafts ; the lower part of the back 

 and the rump uniform light bluish-grey ; upper tail-coverts 

 white ; tail-feathers greyish-brown on the outer webs and 

 white on the inner, with white tips ; chin, neck in front, and 

 the breast, of a lighter grey colour than the back of the neck ; 



