GREY-LAG GOOSE. 149 



derives one of its names : the figure of the White-fronted 

 Goose, the fourth species here given, will exhibit >his 

 mark. The legs of many of our domestic Geese are 

 orange-coloured, like those of the white-fronted ; the legs 

 of the Wild Grey-lag Geese are of a pale flesh colour. 

 The white colour of the horny termination of the beak, 

 called the nail, is common to both. The occasional devia- 

 tion from the natural colour of the plumage of the wild 

 birds to a pure white, which is probably caused by do- 

 mestication and selection, has been referred to. 



The Grey-lag Wild Goose is said to have been for- 

 merly very common in the fens of this country, residing 

 there the whole year, breeding there, and bringing out 

 eight or nine young : but that the general system of drain- 

 ing pursued in Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, and Lincolnshire, 

 has been the means of driving them away. Certain it is 

 that now the Grey-lag Goose is comparatively a rare bird 

 at any season, and whole winters pass away without a 

 single example occurring in the London market, though 

 the bird is well known to some who are constantly upon 

 the look-out for it. A few specimens appeared in October, 

 1837, and in January, 1838, and I considered myself for- 

 tunate in obtaining two specimens in March, 1840, at the 

 common wild goose price, of a poulterer who did not know 

 them as distinct from the Bean Goose. Montagu says they 

 have been killed in open countries when feeding upon 

 young green wheat ; they feed also on the grasses, aquatic 

 plants, and any sort of grain. 



The Grey-lag Goose is considered to have bred formerly 

 in Ireland, but is now a rare visitor there, even in winter. 

 A specimen is occasionally obtained in Devonshire,* and 

 the same may be said of it in Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, 



* Montagu's collection of birds, as left by him, did not contain this 

 species. 



