3 i6 



LAKES AND STREAMS 



instructed in feeding along the shore, and for some weeks are taken back to the 

 nest every evening. During this time the gander accompanies the family ; and, 

 while the mother walks ahead with her progeny all huddled together, he keeps in 

 the rear watching over their safety, prying about with extended neck, and giving 

 an alarm-signal at the slightest suspicion of danger. When danger threatens the 

 brood, the mother induces them by anxious cries to escape into the water, and 



THE GREY LAG-GOOSE. 



never seeks her own safety by a long flight. The gander, however, has no hesita- 

 tion in making off, uttering loud cries by which he warns the others: when the 

 danger is past, the mother reassembles the family around her before the gander 

 has time to return. According to popular belief, the old birds when anticipating 

 a drought lead their offspring to some piece of water that is not likely to dry up, 

 sometimes conducting them, for two or three hours at a time, long distances over 

 fields and along roads, and passing houses and villages without fear. In this 

 endeavour nothing stops them, not even if one of the goslings be devoured by a 



