62 Manual of the Game Birds of hidia. 



fereiitially in those in the immediate 

 neighbourhood of the larger rivers, brows- 

 ing on the young wheat or waddhng 

 awkwardly amongst the heavy clods, 

 amidst which the grain grows, to devour 

 the young shoots, or later, the ripening 

 pods of this vetch. All vetches, lentils, 

 grain, tender grasses and herbs, seem 

 equally to suit their taste, and so long as 

 these are available they eat nothing else ; 

 and by the end of December (thin and poor 

 as they usually are when they first arrive), 

 they are generally in fine condition." 



As before remarked, these Geese breed 

 on the lakes of Ladak and the numerous 

 lakes of Tibet, indifferently whether the 

 water be fresh or salt. They appear to 

 select islands in these lakes for nesting 

 purposes. The nest is described as being 

 a slight hollow in the ground, lined first 

 of all with a few bits of a soft herb, then 

 with feathers. The eggs are laid in April 

 and May. In the British Museum there 

 are three eggs of this Goose, taken on 

 the Tsomourari lake in Ladak. They 

 are nearly elliptical in shape, slightly 

 rough and glossless. In colour they are 

 a pale yellowish white. They measure 

 from 3"T to '^^'^i in length, and from 2 to 

 ?*2 in breadth. 



