126 PINK-FOOTED GOOSE. 



1851; one, which had been previously wounded, was caught 

 near Upware, on the hank of the Cam, in Cambridgeshire, in 

 January, 1850. Three, one male and two females, at Ely, on 

 the 3rd. of May, 1851; one near Wisbeach in the beginning 

 of 1850. In Norfolk, one out of a flock of twenty, was shot 

 by Lord Coke, in January, 1841. 



In Scotland these Geese breed in great numbers, among 

 the Islands of Harris. 



The Pink-footed Goose resorts in spring to the northern 

 districts of the three continents, whence it returns in the 

 autumn. 



In their wild state they appear to travel in small flocks. 

 Meyer writes, 'Towards the spring these Geese become restless, 

 flying to meadows, waste lands, and heathy commons, and 

 finally leave their winter quarters for more northern regions. 

 Their migratory journeys are performed usually in the day, 

 and the speed at which they sometimes fly has been noticed 

 to amount to forty or fifty miles an hour. The numbers that 

 journey together vary from five to fifty or sixty; and when 

 in large flocks they form a triangular figure, headed by the 

 father of the foremost family.' 



These birds have been kept on the ornamental water in 

 St. James' Park, as also in the Zoological Gardens. 



They are shy and wary, awake to the slightest noise, roosting 

 together in flocks to their greater security. They repair 

 towards evening to the borders of rivers, lakes, and open 

 sands that verge upon the 'water-mark,' and leave them in 

 the day-time for cultivated districts. 



They feed on oats, peas, beans, barley, wheat, buckwheat, 

 and any other kinds of grain, and in lack of these on the 

 roots, buds, and shoots of flags, rushes, and other water-plants. 



The voice is a quick and harsh clack. 



These birds pair about the middle of May. Mr. J. Macgil- 

 livray has remarked that he saw them 'in pairs about the 

 middle of the month, and they had the young fully fledged 

 and strong upon the wing about the end of July.' They 

 had again collected into flocks by the beginning of August. 



The eggs are of a pure white colour. Eight were laid by 

 one of these Geese, kept on the water in St. James' Park by 

 the Ornithological Society of London. 



Male; length, two feet four inches; bill, bluish black at 

 the base, the remainder pink red, except the tooth, which 

 is also bluish black, but paler towards its base: a narrow line 



