PINK-FOOTED GOOSE. 499 



footed Geese had bred long enough in the Arctic climate of Spitzbergen 

 to change the colour of their feet, but not long enough to make the new 

 colour permanent, and that when bred in the warmer climate of this 

 country they had a tendency to "hark back" to their ancestors. 



With the exception of the fact that its notes are said to be sharper in 

 tone and more rapidly repeated than those of the Bean-Goose, it is not 

 known to differ from that bird in any of its habits. On Spitzbergen they 

 are recorded (Evans and Sturge, ( Ibis,' 1859, p. 171) to breed " mostly on 

 low rocks near the coast, but some seemed to have their nests in the high 

 cliffs a mile or two from the sea." The nest and eggs do not differ from 

 those of the Bean-Goose, but the latter may easily be distinguished from 

 small eggs of the Grey Goose by their lighter weight*. 



During their stay in this country in winter the flocks of Pink-footed 

 Geese spend most of the day feeding on the stubbles and in the winter- 

 corn. They are of course much persecuted and have become very wary : 

 as soon as it begins to get dark they leave their feeding-grounds and retire 

 to the nearest sandbank on the coast ; but as soon as the moon rises, they 

 seem to think themselves safe again, and return to the fields, where they 

 remain until the moon sets, and the darkness warns them to seek safety 

 again on their favourite sandbank, perhaps a mile or two from shore. They 

 seldom, if ever, frequent the mud-flats or the salt-marshes to feed on the 

 marine vegetation of which the Brent and the Bernacle Geese are so fond. 



The Pink-footed Goose is not very closely allied to the Grey Goose (as 

 Dresser erroneously imagines), but is so nearly related to the Bean-Goose 

 that its specific distinction from that bird is doubtful. I know of no 

 difference of any kind between the two forms beyond that of the colour of 

 the legs and feet and the middle portions of the bill ; these parts are pink 

 in the Pink-footed Goose, and orange in the Bean-Goose. 



* See page 495. 



PINK-FOOTED GOOSE. 



