504. 



BRITISH BIRDS. 



and rump a lavender-grey ; the wing-coverts are more suffused with grey, 

 and some of the feathers of the underparts are blackish brown, but never 

 quite so many of them as in the White-fronted Goose. A narrow 

 margin of m hite feathers surrounds the base of the bill. The bill is flesh- 

 coloured, paler on the nail ; legs and feet flesh-coloured ; irides hazel. 



Young in first plumage may be distinguished by the absence of the 

 narrow white margin at the base of the bill, and by not having the under- 

 parts sprinkled with a few blackish-brown feathers. The nearest ally of the 

 Grey Goose is the White-fronted Goose. 



GREY-LAG GOOSE. 



