120 GEEY-LAG GOOSE. 



eggs with some of the surrounding materials, whenever she 

 leaves the nest for a short time; and it may serve as a 

 safe guide to persons who go in search of the eggs, that if 

 they are uncovered, they are forsaken, and are, consequently, 

 not worth leaving in the nest. As soon as the Goose has 

 laid her full number of eggs, she plucks the down off her 

 breast, and disposes it in such a manner among the eggs, 

 that they retain an equal temperature even at the changes 

 of the weather, or during the short periods when she leaves 

 the nest, once or twice a day.' 



'In four weeks the young come forth, and after remaining 

 under the mother the entire first day, are subsequently led 

 to the water, and made to swim to some small islet, where 

 they can hide, and feed on the young blades of corn, grass, 

 and duckweed. The gander redoubles his watchfulness on 

 the increase of his family, and hardly ever leaves the party. 

 On the approach of danger, the parents resort immediately to 

 the shelter of rushes, standing corn, or long grass, attended 

 by the whole brood; but when surprised on open ground, 

 too far from shelter, the young lay themselves flat on the 

 ground in some rut or hollow, and have even been known 

 to be taken up in the hand, and carried away; but if they 

 are near enough to. the water, instinct teaches them to resort 

 to that element for protection, where, by diving or swimming 

 to the shelter of some cover, they may elude observation: on 

 such occasions the parents fly round the intruders, uttering 

 their inharmonious cries.' Yarrell says that when the hen 

 birds begin to sit, the males leave the fens, and collect in 

 flocks near or on the sea. The male and female are considered 

 to unite for life. They return yearly to the same breeding 

 places, arriving at them in March. 



A wild Grey-lag gander is recorded to have paired with 

 a tame goose in a farm-yard. 



Male; weight, eight or nine pounds; length, two feet eleven 

 inches; bill, large, pale yellowish red with a tint of orange; 

 the tooth at the end greyish white. Iris, greyish brown; 

 the eyelids pale yellowish red with a tinge of orange. Head, 

 crown, neck on the back, and nape, greyish brown, the- 

 feathers of the latter disposed in rows or lines, forming a 

 sort of furrows; neck in front, pale greyish white brown; 

 chin, throat, and breast on the upper part, pale greyish 

 brown; the last-named below, white, and barred on the sides 

 with grey and greyish white. Back on the upper part, 



