igo THE BIRDS OF ESSEX. 



Order ANSERES. 



Family ANATID^. 



Grey Lag Goose : Anser cinereus. Locally " Grey Goose." 

 A winter visitor, most often seen during severe weather. 



Mr. Parsons says (8) " The winter of 1822-23 was very severe. There were a 

 great many Geese over and some Swans, but very few Wigeon. Eight Grey 

 Geese stopped in the Great Mead at the Hall [Shoebury], and my father shot one 

 of them." Edward Doubleday wrote in 1835 (15) that it had been killed at Har- 

 low. Mr. Clarke says (24) it is " occasional!}^ [met with] in hard winters " round 

 Saffron Walden. In 1880, an authority on the Essex coast wrote : — 



" The Grey Geese were seen on Saturday, Feb. 21st ; from 600 to 1,000 flj-insf 

 in a triangular form in a N.E. direction. I have repeatedly seen them sometimes 

 passing for whole da3's and have always noticed that we never had any winter to 

 speak of afterwards. They fly generally about a mile high. We verv seldom see 

 them going south — I suppose because the days are shorter, or possibl}- some m.ay 

 go another wa}' ; but they generally go north about this time of the vear. I used 

 to try to shoot them with a rifle to see what sort of Geese they were " (42. 30). 



Mr. Hope observes that it passes over in the autumn and spring in vast flocks, 

 going south-west and north-east. When the Geese fly north in the spring, there 

 is seldom anj^ more cold weather. Round Harwich, " some are seen every winter " 

 (Kerry). 



This species — the only one that is resident and breeds in Britain — is com- 

 monly supposed to be the chief source from^ which our domestic goose has 

 sprung, and the following ma}', therefore, be appropriately inserted here. 

 Daniel says (6. ii. 466) : 



'■ Vast numbers of Geese are driven annually to London from distant counties 

 to supply the markets, among them all the superannuated Geese and Ganders 

 (called Cagmags), which by a long course of plucking prove uncommonly tough 

 and dry. In 1783, one drove of above 9,000 passed through Chelmsford. Dro^•es 

 of two or three thousand are common." 



In connection with this subject, Daniel elsewhere relates an amusing anecdote 

 of a race between a flock of Geese and another of Turkeys, both of which must 

 have passed through Chelmsford. He says (6. ii. p. 409) : 



" Lord Orford, in 1740, made a considerable bet with the present Duke of 

 Queensberrv that a drove of Geese would beat an equal number of Turkies in a 

 race from Norwich to London. The event proved the justness of his lordship's 

 expectations ; for the Geese kept on the road with a steady pace ; but the Turkies, 

 as e\-ery evening approached, flew to roost in the trees adjoining the road, from 

 which the drivers found it very difficult to dislodge them. In consequence of 

 [their not] stopping to sleep, the Geese beat their competitors hollow, arriving at 

 their destination two days before the Turkies." 



