4 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XXI. 



are of a compact, firm shape, and walk with great 

 activity and lightness while feeding. Unlike the 

 bean-goose, they frequently feed in pools and 

 swamps where some favourite plant grows ; and in 

 situations which the sportsman can easily approach, 

 sometimes close to furze or other cover. The other 

 kinds of geese never by any chance commit them- 

 selves in the same manner, but always feed and 

 rest in the most open situations, where it is almost 

 impossible to approach them unseen. The white- 

 fronted goose has much more the form and appear- 

 ance of the common tame goose than the bean- 

 goose. In this respect, as well as in the peculiar 

 shape of the head and bill, it exactly resembles 

 the gray lag. 



A single very large wild-swan appeared on the 

 lakes on the 18th of October, and on the 20th he 

 was joined by two more. The wild-swans, on their 

 first arrival, almost always fly into the bay from the 

 south, coming in flocks of one hundred to two hun- 

 dred together. The only way I can account for this, 

 knowing that they must of necessity have wended 

 their way from the north, is, by supposing that they 

 first alight on some of the mountain lakes between 

 Findhorn and Strathspey. A large flight of these 

 noble birds, as they circle round the fresh- water 

 lakes on their first arrival, is one of the most beau- 



