62 WILD-GEESE. 



articulated on the tarsus, free, without a lobe 

 or membrane. 



Types. A. segetum, allifrons, lernicla, &c. Eu- 

 rope, Asia, America. 



Note. Gregarious ; feed chiefly on vegetables or 

 grains; easily domesticated. Dive only to 

 escape danger. Trachea simple. 



The term " wild-goose," or " wild-geese," is so 

 promiscuously applied to the species found in our 

 islands, that it is impossible to trace their individual 

 range or frequency. In Scotland, one species is, 

 however, much more numerously and generally dis- 

 tributed than any of the others ; and as we have 

 had more opportunities of observing this, we shall 

 first give some account of the 



BEAN GOOSE, ANSER SEGETUM, Pennant. This 

 species, in the north of England, and over two- 

 thirds of the southern portion of Scotland, is a winter 

 visitant from higher latitudes, appearing on the coasts 

 at the approach of severe weather, making excursions 

 inland to feed, and, when the weather has become 

 settled to winter, often selecting some interior inland 

 situation, where the party or flock will remain for 

 some time, or until a change has taken place. 

 The haunts at these times are extensive flat tracts, 

 such as holm or meadow pasture, wet marshy 

 ground, often at a considerable elevation and on the 

 borders of pastoral lands. As spring advances and 



