18 WATER FOWL OF INDIA AND ASIA. 
have observed thai in captive birds of this species kept 
in the Calcutta Zoo, the beak varied from rose-red in the 
spring to a sallow flesh-colour when the birds were 
moulting, so there is evidently some seasonal change 
depending on vigour. I have seen one or two specimens 
in’ which the “nail” at-the tip of the “bill, usually 
white, was horn-colour, but it never approached black. 
The Gray Goose breeds in Europe north of about 50° 
latitude, and in Central Asia and Southern Siberia, 
wintering in South Europe, North Africa, South-Western 
Asia, and Northern India. It is especially common in 
the cold weather in the Punjab, Sind, and the North- 
West Provinces, and occurs also in Assam, Burma, and 
Manipur. 
It is found as far south as the Nerbudda on the West, 
and the Chilka Lake in Orissa on the East ; but seldom 
south of the Gangetic plain inland. It is often in very 
jarge flocks, from two hundred to a thousand birds or 
more, but the total number of birds that visit India is 
not, in Mr Hume’s ‘opinion,’ more)than “a fith vor 
that of the Bar-headed, to be mentioned below. 
This species is the original stock of the Tame Goose 
of Europe, and was already domesticated, and some- 
times at least white, in the time of Homer, as we know 
from certain passages in the Odyssey. It ought, how- 
ever, to be mentioned that there is some possibility of 
the White-fronted Goose, to be dealt with hereafter, 
having had a sharein the origin of our tame birds. 
The Goose has varied very little during these long 
ages of domestication in comparison with other birds 
more recently tamed, such as the fowl. 
It should be mentioned, however, that the domestic 
Goose of India has sprung, at least in part, from a quite 
distinct species, the Chinese Goose (Cygnopsts cygnordes), 
to be noticed later. 
It is usual to call the Gray Goose the Gray Lag, the 
latter word being supposed, with much reason, to mark 
