46 Manual of the Game Birds of India. 



out at intervals, kak^ kak, kike^ sometimes 

 even ki-ike.^^ 



The • Grey Lag-Goose is an early 

 breeder, and no time is apparently lost 

 in courtship. They choose the wildest 

 moors and swamps for their breeding- 

 grounds. The nest is a clumsy struc- 

 ture of grass and reeds on the ground, 

 and when the eggs are laid, the Goose 

 hnes it with down from her body. The 

 number of eggs varies from six to 

 twelve or even fourteen. The eggs 

 are rough in texture and of a creamy 

 white colour. They measure about 3'5 

 by 2*3. The gander watches near the 

 nest while the goose is sitting, and, 

 when the young are hatched, assists his 

 mate to look after them. 



The adult bird has the whole head 

 and neck brown, with a very narrow 

 fringe of white round the base of the 

 upper mandible, the brown darker on 

 the crown, the feathers of the neck soft 

 and pointed. The mantle, back, scapulars 

 and the longer inner secondaries are ashy 

 brown, each feather margined with greyish 

 white. The rump is grey and the upper 

 tail-coverts white. The two middle tail- 

 feathers are ashy brown, broadly tipped 

 with white. The others are basally 



