152 BIRDS OF LANCASHIRE. 



than a mile or so from the shore. They ' flight ' later 

 than the Ducks, usually about 8 or 9 o'clock. IMartin 

 Mere, after it was drained, but before it was thoroughly 

 reclaimed and cropped, was the chief inland feeding- 

 ground. John Cookson then shot Geese above ten 

 pounds in weight and with flesh-coloured bills (Grey 

 Lags). In addition to the Geese which are shot, some 

 are taken in ' ring ' nets, but more — together with other 

 wildfowl — are caught in strong steel traps which are set 

 in pools left by the receding tide, as well as in any 

 plashes of freshwater which may be on the arable land 

 within the embankment. In April, one year, Eichard 

 Iddon found that a Goose had been caught by the bill ; 

 part of the upper mandible taken oflf in a line with the 

 nostrils, was in the trap : the following November he 

 caught a Goose, probably the same bird, with this 

 portion of the bill missing. 



" For several years I have taken much interest in the 

 distribution of Grey Geese in Lancashire, and never 

 missed an opportunity of seeing any birds killed in the 

 county. The Pdbble estuary is undoubtedly more 

 frequented by Grey Geese than any part of the Lan- 

 cashire coast : about the Lune estuary they seldom 

 alight ; and Mr. T. Jackson, of Overton, informs me that 

 he cannot say what species pass over during the seasons 

 of migration, for he has shot only one Goose in his life. 

 I have not yet succeeded in getting a sight of a Grey Lag 

 killed in the county.'^ — R. J. H. 



Mr. Hugh 'P. Hornby, in a letter to Mr. Howard, 

 states that in January 1891 he got in Preston the only 

 true Grey Lag-Goose he ever possessed ; said, and he 

 believes correctly, to have been shot on the Ribble. — Ed.] 



