LITTLE BITTERN— GREY GOOSE 



3i5 



distance above the water, though sometimes built in a pollard willow. Occasionally 

 there are several nests not far from each other, but this is only in places remote 

 from the probable intrusion of man. In the beginning of June the nest contains 

 from five to nine eggs. The young birds are hatched in seventeen days, and are 

 fed by the parents till after they are fully fledged. When danger approaches, the 

 female, although generally very shy, hastens to the spot, and utters pitiful cries, 

 running anxiously up and 

 down among the reed-stems 

 while the male keeps at a safe 

 distance. The little bittern 

 is mainly nocturnal, and like 

 its taller cousin, escapes notice 

 by i"emaining motionless with 

 its beak pointing upwards. 



Grey Goose. 



With the 

 grey lag-goose 

 (Anser cinereus), a species 

 easily identified by the white 

 " nail " at the tip of its beak, 

 we come to our first repre- 

 sentative of the duck-tribe — 

 a group whose members none 

 can fail to recognise. This 

 species generally nests in 

 bushy situations on the moor- 

 lands or on small stretches of 

 ground surrounded by marshes 

 or deep water, and generally 

 far from the shore, particu- 

 larly in i-eedy islands. Some- 

 times it arrives on the breed- 

 ing-grounds as early as the 

 end of February, though 

 generally not before the first 

 half of March ; and it always 

 appears in large parties and 

 with much noise. The nest 

 is a heap of sticks, reeds, 



flags, and leaves, with a shallow cavity in the centre, the eggs varying in 

 number from five to fourteen, according to the age of the bird that lays 

 them. As soon as they are laid, the nest is lined with feathers and down 

 plucked by the female from her own breast, and they are covered with down 

 whenever they are left. In four weeks the goslings hatch out, and, after staying 

 in the nest only for a single day, are led to the water and taught to find their 

 own food in the shape of tender grass and other green plants. Later on they are 



THE LITTLE BITTERN. 



