WILD-FOWL: GEESE 193 



thence taking daily flights inland to distances of twenty 

 miles or more to glean the .stubbles on the Yorkshire 

 Wolds. Barley is invariably the first grain visited in- 

 deed I am convinced that their predilection for this 

 grain strongly influences them in the selection of their 

 feeding-ground, for I have usually found the scattered 

 grain on the barley-stubbles to be pretty well gleaned 

 up before any other crop is attacked. Their choice next 

 inclines to oats ; wheat, in the ear, apparently being 

 looked upon with less favour. No beans are grown upon 

 the light thin soil of these Yorkshire hills. When the 

 supply of scattered grain is about exhausted, or the 

 stubbles have been ploughed in, the geese turn their 

 attention to the succulent blades of the newly-sown 

 wheat or to the young clover. As a rule, the weather 

 at that altitude, 500 ft. or so above mean tidal-level, 

 usually becomes more or less wintry about the middle of 

 December, and then, with the first good covering of snow, 

 the main body of the geese forsake the hills and spend 

 their days upon the lowlands about Goole Level or 

 Thorne Moor ; whilst some possibly go to augment the 

 company which has long wintered in North Norfolk. 

 The question of food supply dominates the movements 

 of these geese more than any consideration of weather. 

 Fluctuations in the quantity of their favourite food may 

 possibly be responsible for variations in the strength of 

 the Yorkshire band of geese in different seasons. In one 

 season there may be thousands, and in another scarcely 

 so many hundreds will be observed. I have at various 

 times seen massed together enormous congregations of 

 Pink-footed geese on the Yorkshire wolds. Their usual 

 habit is to leave the roosting-place at or just before 

 break of day for the feeding-gound, the " gaggles " then 



