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178 THE BEAN GOOSE ‘ 
the other species, but it is said by Mr. Selby to ‘ vary from the Bean 
Goose in preferring low and marshy districts to the upland and 
drier haunts of that bird, and in these localities subsists on the 
aquatic grasses, being very seldom seen to frequent corn or stubble 
fields’. In Norfolk it has frequently been seen associated with the 
Bean Goose. It has never been observed to remain with us after 
April, when it betakes itself to the regions bordering on the Arctic 
circle. In Lapland it is very abundant, and in the fur countries 
of North America it was seen in spring by Dr. Richardson in large 
flocks travelling northwards. It breeds in the woody districts 
skirting Mackenzie’s River, and in the islands of the Arctic Sea. 
The white forehead of this bird tends to confirm the opinion 
maintained by some authors that the common Domestic Goose owes 
its origin to this species. 
THE BEAN GOOSE 
ANSER SEGETUM 
Folded wings exceeding the tail in length ; bill long, orange, the base and nail 
black; upper plumage ash-brown; the wings darker, edged with 
greyish white ; under plumage in front dirty white, behind pure white ; 
irides dark brown; legs orange; beak yellowish white. Length thirty- 
four inches. Eggs white. 
THE several species constituting the group to which the Bean 
Goose belongs resemble each other very nearly in all respects. All 
are gregarious, fly high in the form of a V, or in an undulating line, 
uttering repeated cries, which no one who has heard a domesticated 
Goose can fail to recognize ; they pass the night for the most part 
on broad flats near the sea, and at early dawn repair inland to their 
feeding-grounds. The Bean Goose is, on the authority of Yarrell, 
next to the Brent Goose, the commonest and most numerous as a 
species among our Wild Geese. In Scotland it is far more abundant 
than in England, being seen in large flocks from October to April, 
especially at the periods of migration to and from its summer 
quarters. But it does not altogether desert the British Isles during 
the intervening months. A few are said annually to remain, and 
breed in the lakes of Westmoreland, and in the Hebrides. In 
Sutherlandshire, also, many remain all the year—a fact thoroughly 
ascertained by Mr. Selby, who gives an interesting account of several 
young broods which he saw on the lochs, some of which he captured. 
They construct their nests among the tussocks of sedge or grass 
hillocks on the islands, and lay from three to four eggs, smaller than 
those of the Common Goose, but of a similar shape and colour. 
