GEESE 2095 



once or twice, and then suddenly down they come with incredible rapidity, twisting 

 and turning with an ease and grace for which no one could at other times have 

 given them credit. ' ' When passing from one piece of water to another, they fre- 

 quently fly in an irregular mass, but, when journeying long distances, the flock 

 generally ascends to a great height, and flies either in a line or a chevron. During 

 the winter in India these geese are commonly seen in flocks of from thirty to a hun- 

 dred, but at times a thousand or more may be collected together. The graylag 

 does not go so far north to breed as the bean goose, and its northward, and some- 

 times also its southward migration, is consequently earlier. The nest of the gray- 

 lag is built of grass and flags, without lining, and is usually placed either at the 

 base of a tussock of coarse grass or among heather; the general number of eggs 

 being six. 



Shy and wild as is the graylag goose in many districts, on the larger Indian 

 rivers, according to the experience both of Mr. Hume and ourselves, it may be 

 easily approached within range, with the aid of a boat protected in front by a 

 screen, behind which the sportsman lies concealed. In this manner a flock stand- 

 ing on a sand bank may be approached within a hundred yards without causing 

 much disturbance. "As you approach nearer," writes Mr. Hume, "all begin to 

 walk slowly away, and, as a rule, if you persist in coming within twenty yards, and 

 coming on quicker than they can walk, they rise and fly; or if you stand up in the 

 boat, or make any sudden noise, they will equally take to wing, but if you drift 

 quietly down on them, they will let you come within twenty or thirty yards without 

 quitting the bank." With the first shot they rise with a deafening clamor, gen- 

 erally circling round the boat, and often affording the chance of a second shot. 



Although nearly allied to the snow geese, the typical brent geese of 

 the Northern Hemisphere (Bernicla) are distinguished from the true 

 geese by their darker plumage, in which the head and neck are chiefly 

 black, and the beak and feet entirely black, at all ages. All these birds are char- 

 acterized by their short and subconical beaks, of which the length is considerably 

 less than that of the head; the mandibles having their inner edges nearly straight 

 and their lamellae nearly or completely concealed; while the nail at the tip is ovate, 

 and the nostrils oval and nearly central. The long wings are also more pointed 

 than in the true geese, and the tail is short and rounded. 



Of the more typical representatives of the genus, we may first men- 

 Soecies ^ n t * ie ^ rent S oose (B. brenta), characterized by the head and neck 

 being black, with the exception of a white patch on each side of the 

 latter. The length is about twenty-two inches; and in the typical form the upper 

 part of the breast is black, while the lower part of the latter and the abdomen are 

 slaty gray. There is, however, a variety (glaucogaster) in which the under parts 

 below the breast are nearly white. The brent goose inhabits all Arctic Europe and 

 part of Asia, wintering in the British Islands, North Germany, France, Belgium, 

 etc. , and occasionally ranging to the Mediterranean and the valley of the Nile. It 

 breeds in Spitzbergen, Nova Zembla, and the islands of Arctic Siberia, and thence 

 to the extreme north; while in America it nests in Greenland, and ranges south- 

 ward on the east side of the continent as far as New York, or even Texas. In 



