GREY GEESE. 211 



and Pink-footed species (Anser segetum and A. brachy- 

 rhynchus), the latter species predominating. But to what 

 species do the large spring-and-autumn birds belong ? The 

 Grey-lag is usually described as a scarce, and more or less 

 casual visitant to our north-east coast, but perhaps the evidence 

 rests on no very solid or sufficing basis. Mere market speci- 

 mens I dismiss as utterly worthless, since, firstly, there is 

 now-a-days no certainty as to whence they have come; and, 

 secondly, as just described, a thousand geese may spend a 

 month or two on our coast and depart without losing a single 

 member of their mess, or leaving any " marketable " trace 

 of their having been here at all. 



Though we have failed to prove the case, I think that 

 collateral evidence rather points to the probability of the 

 double passage (spring and autumn) geese being all Grey- 

 lags. The main breeding ground of that species is on the 

 islands of the Norway coast, from Stavanger to the North 

 Cape ; they leave that country almost simultaneously about 

 September 20th, but do not appear in their great winter 

 resorts in Southern Europe till the middle of November. 

 Where are they in the meantime ? The interval coincides 

 with the period at which we have the large geese above 

 named on the north-east coast, which, moreover, lies 

 directly on their line of route. Comparing the predilections 

 of the respective species, the Bean and Pink-footed Geese 

 are far more northerly breeders than the Grey-lag, neither 

 nesting southward of the Arctic circle I found the Pink- 

 footed Goose breeding in Spitz bergen. Nor do either of these 

 species pass nearly so far southward in winter as the Grey- 

 lag, which nests in considerable numbers in Scotland and 

 the Hebrides, and in winter is by far the most numerous of 

 the geese that resort to the Spanish marismas. The Grey- 

 lag, in short, is of far more temperate tastes than either of 

 the other two species, which latter are the common winter 

 wild geese of the British Islands. Their habits on this coast are 

 identical with those of the autumnal geese already described. 

 They pass the night roosting on the dry sand-flats, and by 

 daylight pass inland to feed on grain, grass, and other 

 vegetable substances. But they never, in my experience, 



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