192 THE GUN: AFIELD AND AFLOAT 



scheme of coloration of the bills, legs, and feet of the 

 typical British Grey geese as an aid to their ready 

 identification 



Any marked departures from this recognized scheme 

 of coloration observed by the British goose-shooter in 

 respect of any of his captures in the way of grey geese, 

 should be immediately reported to some quarter where 

 all doubts could be set at rest say, for instance, to the 

 Natural History Museum at South Kensington the 

 likelihood being great that he may have secured one or 

 other of the new geese. In this way valuable assistance 

 might be rendered in deciding the question as to whether 

 certain birds should be accorded specific rank or be 

 classed merely as sub-species or local races. 



Of the grey geese the Pink-footed is, in my experience, 

 the commonest species in this country. In East York- 

 shire, where I have had much good sport with these 

 geese, I find their movements conducted with great 

 regularity. Year by year they commence to arrive by 

 the 25th of September, almost to the day. They make 

 the sand- or mud-banks of the Upper Humber their 

 nocturnal resting-place and base-line of operations, 



