2094 FLAMINGOES, DUCKS, AND SCREAMERS 



species maybe readily distinguished by the black nail of the beak; the middle 

 portion of the beak being orange yellow, and its base black; while the legs and 

 feet are also orange yellow or orange. This species also ranges over the greater 

 part of the northern half of the Old World, occurring during the winter in 

 Britain, the shores of the Mediterranean, India, and Japan. It is, however, 

 essentially a northern form, only breeding in Scandinavia to the north of latitude 

 64, and in Siberia on the tundras near lakes and pools beyond or near the limits 

 of forest. The pink-footed goose {A. brachyrhynchus} is a closely-allied smaller 

 species or variety, measuring only twenty -eight inches in length, and characterized 

 by the middle portion of the beak being generally pinkish, although sometimes 

 orange yellow; while the feet are usually flesh colored. Breeding in Spitzbergen, 

 probably Iceland, and, perhaps, Nova Zembla, this small goose visits the British 

 Islands in great numbers during the winter, while it occurs rarely in Northern 

 India. The snow goose (A. hyperboreus) , of which there is a large and small race, 

 belongs to a second group of the genus* characterized by the very stout and slightly- 

 convex beak, and by the head and neck, or the whole plumage of the adult, with 

 the exception of the primaries, being entirely white. The snow goose is one of 

 those in which the primaries are black, and the rest of the plumage white; the 

 smaller variety measuring twenty-three inches in length. Distributed over the 

 whole of North America, this essentially northern species probably has a circum- 

 polar distribution, and nests on the barren Arctic tundras, although but little is 

 known of its habits. Ross's goose (A. rossi] of Northwestern North America, is a 

 smaller form, with numerous caruncles at the base of its shorter beak; while the 

 American blue-winged goose (A. ccerulescens} has a large portion of the plumage of 

 the body grayish brown, with bluish -gray wing coverts and rump. 

 Habits ^^ e * rue & eese f r ^ e g rea ter part of the year frequent marshes, 



lakes, moors, or open plains, where there is water, but during the 

 winter not unfrequently seek the seacoast. Their harsh ' ' gaggling ' ' notes are 

 among the most discordant of sounds; and although they associate in flocks during 

 the winter, and frequently also breed in company, each male has but a single con- 

 sort. The nest is of large size, with the numerous eggs of a creamy white color, 

 and both sexes take part in the work of incubation. In undisturbed districts they 

 feed during the day, but, when frequently fired at, their feeding hours are mostly 

 nocturnal; shoots of young grass and corn forming their favorite food. The snow 

 goose, however, subsists largely on berries in the summer. Writing of the graylag 

 goose in India, Mr. Hume observes that when not feeding, these birds " spend their 

 time dozing or dawdling about on the margin of some lake or the bank of some 

 river, always by preference choosing some island in these for their noontide siesta. 

 Unless disturbed, they very rarely take to the water. Although they rise rather 

 awkwardly and slowly, with violent and rather noisy flappings of their wings, they 

 fly very strongly and easily when once off, and I do not know a more beautiful 

 sight than the sudden and rapid descent of a large flock from high in the air to 

 some sand bank. The flock comes along in sober state, circles round decorously 



*Frequently separated as a distinct genus Chen. 



