O'J 



GREY-LAG GOOSE. 



WILD-GOOSE. GEEY-LAG WILD-GOOSE. 



PLATE CLXXXIII. PIG. I. 



Anser paluxtris, FLEMING. SELBT. 



Anser fents, JENYNS. 



Anas anser, PENNANT. 



Anas ferus, MONTAGU. 



THE nest of this Goose is made of grass, rushes, leaves, or dry 

 stalks of plants, under cover of some rushes or osiers, and is well 

 lined with feathers. It is large in size, and is located in a marsh, or 

 by the border of a lake or inland sea. The male keeps guard near 

 it while his partner sits. 



The eggs are said to be commonly four or five in number, but to 

 amount also to as many as twelve or fourteen, the former the produce 

 of younger, and the latter of older birds; eight or nine the interme- 

 diate quantity. They are of a dull yellowish white, smooth and 

 shining in appearance. 



Meyer says, 'The female is very careful in covering the eggs with 

 some of the surrounding materials, whenever she leaves the nest for 

 a short time; and it may serve as a safe guide to persons who go in 

 search of the eggs, that if they are uncovered they are forsaken, and 

 are, consequently, not worth leaving in the nest. As soon as the 

 Goose has laid her full number of eggs, she plucks the down off her 

 breast, and disposes it in such a manner among the eggs, that they 

 retain an equal temperature even at the changes of the weather, or 

 during the short periods when she leaves the nest, once or twice a 

 day/ 



