328 THE BIRDS OF SUSSEX. 



shot on the Adur, near Old Shoreliam Bridge. Mr. Knox 

 (O. R. p. 228) states tliat it had been shot at Rye and at 

 Pagham Harbour^ that the Chichester Museum contains one 

 shot in that neighbourhood, and that a specimen is in his 

 own collection, which w^as shot near Seaford, in the autumn 

 of 1844; and ]\Ir. Jeffery saw one at Chichester, which had 

 been shot in 1887, an immature bird. 



ANSERES. 

 ANATID^. 



GREY-LAG GOOSE. 



Anser cinereus. 



This is the only one of its genus which is resident in the 

 British Isles, and is supposed to be the origin of the common 

 domestic Goose. It formerly bred in the Cambridge, Lin- 

 colnshire, and Norfolk fens, and up to about a hundred years 

 ago a few continued to do so, particularly about Waterbeach 

 and Wicken. Its building places are now confined to a few 

 spots on the mainland, and on some islands in the lakes of 

 Scotland. The nest is a clumsy structure of dry herbage, 

 reeds, and, externally, a few sticks, placed on the ground. 

 It feeds chiefly at night, on tender grass and young growing 

 corn, as well as on grain, frequenting the inland morasses, and 

 occasionally the sea. This Goose is a rare visitor to Sussex, 

 though in severe winters a considerable flock has occasionally 

 been met with in the Channel, a mile or so ofi" the coast. The 

 only individual which ever came into my hands in the flesh 

 was an immature specimen sent me by a lady for identifi- 



