THE GEESE 



[ORDER: Anser if or mes. SUBORDER: Anseres. FAMILY: Anatidce. 



SUBFAMILY: Anserince] 



PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 



[F. C. B. JOURDAIN. W. P. PYCRAFT. A. L. THOMSON] 



GREYLAG-GOOSE [Anser dnser (Linnaeus); Anser cinereus Meyer. 

 Grey-goose (generic). French, oie cendre ; German, Grau-Gans ; Italian, oca 

 selvaticd]. 



I. Description. The greylag-goose is to be distinguished by the white 

 nail of the beak, which else is flesh-coloured, the flesh-coloured legs, and the light 

 ash-grey of the lesser wing-coverts. The sexes are alike. (PI. 152.) Length 34 in. 

 [863*0 mm.]. The upper parts are of a light greyish brown, paler tips to the 

 scapular and interscapular feathers, giving the back an irregularly barred appear- 

 ance. The major coverts and secondaries have narrow white edges. At the base of 

 the beak a narrow white bar is often present ; the upper and under tail-coverts are 

 white. The breast is of a light greyish brown obscurely barred with dusky bands. 

 Immature birds are somewhat darker than the adults, and lack the bars on the 

 abdomen. The young in down are of an olive-brown colour above, tinged on the 

 forehead, sides of the head, hind-neck, fore-breast, and flanks with greenish yellow. 

 The rest of the under parts yellowish white. Beak and feet flesh-coloured, 

 [w. P. P.] 



a. Distribution. In the British Isles the greylag is now confined to 

 Scotland, although a colony of semi-domesticated birds exists at Castle Coole in 

 Ireland, and formerly it bred in some numbers in the eastern counties of England, 

 surviving till the early part of the nineteenth century in Lincolnshire. In Scotland 

 it breeds in Ross, Caithness, and Sutherland, and of late years has shown a tendency 

 to increase its range. It also nests in some of the Inner Hebrides, and in some 



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