78 BRITISH BIRDS 
Eggs. Usually 4-6. Yellowish-white, being sometimes 
blotched, sometimes wholly concealed by shades varying from 
reddish to blackish-brown, and from pale to reddish-yellow. 
Rarely purplish underlying marks. Av. size, 1°52 x 1-20 in. 
Laying begins April-May. One brood 
VITL ORDER: ANSERIFORMES. SUB-ORDER: 
ANSERES 
Family: Anatide. (a) Subfamily, Anserine—Geese 
157. Greylag-goose [Anser anser (Linneeus); Anser cinereus 
Meyer]. Resident. Breeds N. Scotland. Elsewhere winter 
visitor or bird of passage. 
Bird. Length 34in. Distinguished from two of the other 
and rarer Grey Geese (bean-goose, pinkfooted-goose) by the white 
tip or nail to the bill, and from the third, the white-fronted- 
goose, which has also a white nail, by having only a little or 
no white feathering round the base of the bill instead of the 
conspicuous white patch on the face, which gives the latter 
species its name. Beak, except tip, and legs pink flesh- 
coloured. Plumage mostly greyish-brown, lighter on the 
under-parts, with paler margins on the back and scapulars, and 
dusky bars on the under-parts. Rump and wing-coverts 
bluish-grey. Belly dull white. White tip to tail. 
Nest. Usually in heather not far from water ; often on a 
small islet; also in coarse marsh herbage. A scrape lined 
with heather, rushes, grasses, &c., with an inner lining of the 
bird’s feathers and down. 
Eggs. Usually 4-6. Till stained they are dull yellowish- 
white. Av. size, 3°43x2°3 in. Laying begins mid to end 
April. One brood. 
158. Barnacle-goose [Branta leucopsis (Bechstein) ; Bernicla 
leucopsis (Bechstein)|]. A winter visitor, 
chiefly to our western coasts, especially 
the Solway. Bird of passage. 
Bird. Length 27 in. Recognised by 
the white face and throat enclosed by 
the surrounding glossy black of the 
crown, neck, and upper breast. Lores 
black, Mantle and wing-coverts lavender- 
grey with dark edgings, these being 
rimmed white. Beak, legs, tail, wing 
quills black. Breast and flanks whitish, 
Fig. 92. 
the latter barred grey. Tail-coverts and belly white. The 
young has the white of the head tinged brown or dusky. 
159. Brent-goose [Branta bernicla bernicla (L.); Bernicla 
