ANATIDA., 459 
heather, either on an island in some lake or near 
the borders of one. It has also been known to 
breed in confinement. 
The food of the present species, like that of the 
other Wild Geese, consists of various sorts of 
grasses, tender shoots and roots of aquatic plants, 
young growing corn, and peas and beans; indeed 
Where they are numerous they do considerable 
damage to these crops, punishing the farmers new- 
sown beans in early spring through the day, and 
“paidling about in the mud at nicht, deil tak’ 
them.”* There may be some little difficulty in 
identifying the four species of our wild Grey Geese ; 
the leading distinctions, however, have been very 
shortly and neatly summed up by Mr. Harting, in a 
paper published in the ‘ Zoologist’ for 1867, on the 
distinguishing characters of some nearly allied 
species of British Birds, as follows :— 
Species. Bill. Legs. 
GreyLtac . .| Flesh-colour; nail | Flesh-colour. 
white. 
Bean . . .| Orange; nail, edges | Orange. 
and base black. 
PinkFooteD- .| Pink; nail and base | Pink, tinged with ver- 
black. milion, like Egyp- 
tian Goose. 
WHITEFRONTED | Pink; nail and base | Orange. 
white; forehead 
white. 
* * Zoologist’ for 1867 (Second Series, p. 902). 
2R2 
