124 BEAN GOOSE. 
Arthur Strickland, Esq. has written of his having known 
some years ago, in one parish on the Wolds, a person hired 
to keep them off. They feed also on young growing corn, 
to which they do like damage, as also on turnips and grass, 
and subsequently pick up a livelihood in the stubble fields. 
Their partiality to beans, the newly sown fields of which, and 
those of peas, they frequent in the early spring, is probably 
the origin of their name. They are, however, fond of any 
other kind of grain, oats, rye, and wheat, ripe or unripe, and 
also pluck the different grasses. 
The eggs of this species are of a dull white colour, and 
from five to seven in number. 
The young, till able to fly, hide themselves, if alarmed, in 
the neighbouring heather or other cover. 
In confinement this species has been known to pair with 
the Tame Goose, the progeny partaking in some respects of 
the character of both parents. This is a statement of 
Meyer’s. 
Male; weight, about six pounds; length, two feet eight 
inches to nearly three feet; the bill, which is rather tapered 
towards the end, is red or yellowish red, with the exception 
of the edges, the base, and the tooth, which are black. Iris, 
dark brown, the eyelids dark grey. Head, crown, neck on 
the back, and nape, greyish brown, the former colour disposed 
in lines, giving a furrowed appearance; neck in front, chin, 
and throat, dull white; breast, dull greyish white, with 
deeper shades of the same colour across. Back above brown 
with a shght tinge of grey, and each feather edged with 
white or greyish white; on the lower part dark greyish 
brown. 
The wings have the second quill feather the longest; they 
reach, when closed, beyond the end of the tail. Greater and 
lesser wing coverts, greyish brown, tipped and edged with 
white; primaries, greyish black; secondaries and_tertiaries, 
greyish brown, edged and tipped with white. _ Upper and 
under tail coverts, white. Legs and toes, orange red; claws, 
black; webs, orange red. This colour varies in depth 
according to the age of the bird. 
The female is smaller. 
The young are of a paler grey. 
In some of these birds there are a few white feathers 
around the base of the bill. 
