THE PINK-FOOTED GOOSE 179 
THE PINK-FOOTED GOOSE 
ANSER BRACHYRHYNCHUS 
Folded wings not reaching to the extremity of the tail; bill shorter than 
the head, narrow and much contracted towards the tip, pink, with the 
nail and base black; head and neck reddish brown ; rest of the upper 
plumage ash-grey, edged. with greyish white; under plumage in front 
fawn-colour, behind white; irides dark brown; feet pink, tinged with 
vermilion. Length two feet four inches. Eggs dull yellowish white. 
Ir is said that most, if not all the various species of wild Geese 
have strong local attachments ; that flocks composed of one particu- 
lar kind are in the habit of visiting, year after year, the same 
spot, to the exclusion of other species, which may, nevertheless, 
be found frequenting places of like character at no great distance. 
Of the truth of the statement I met with signal confirmation 
in the severe winter of 1860-1. I then spent several days on 
the coast of Norfolk, for the purpose of watching the habits 
of Waders and sea-fowl. Without indulging in the chase of wild 
Geese, I heard and saw a great many flocks, of which some were 
unmistakably Brent Geese ; others, of a larger size and a different 
colour,I was obliged to include under the comprehensive name of Grey 
Geese. The Brents, I found, regularly repaired to. the salt marshes 
adjoining Thornham Harbour, which, I was told, was their usual 
place of resort. The others were known to alight only in the meadows 
near Holkham. Having heard that several had been shot at the 
latter place, I procured one, and on examination it proved to be the 
present species, up to that time entirely unknown to me. On 
consulting Yarrell, I found the following passage :—‘In January 
of the present year, 1841, I was favoured with a letter from the 
Hon. and Rev. Thomas Keppel, of Warham Rectory, near Holkam, 
informing me that a Pink-footed Goose had been killed by his 
nephew, Lord Coke, at Holkam. This bird was shot out of a flock 
of about twenty, but nothing particular was observed in their 
flight or habits.” The bird brought to me had been shot, along with 
many others, out of similar flocks, in exactly the same place, at 
an interval of twenty years; and I have no doubt that the many 
other specimens which have been shot there between the above 
two dates, belonged to the same species, the characters which dis- 
tinguish it from the common Bean Goose being not sufficiently 
striking to attract the notice of seaside gunners. The habits of 
the species appear not to differ from those of its congener ; it arrives 
and departs about the same time, and it frequents the marshes 
and uplands of Norfolk, and in winter the east coast of Scotland, 
