218 BIKDS OF MIDDLESEX. 



over, but they made no stay. They were at too 

 great a height to determine the species. My last 

 memorandum with regard to Geese seen here is to 

 the effect that four- and- twenty passed over Kingsbury 

 early one morning during the first week of March, 

 1865. They were flying in the direction S.\V. 



It is more than probable that the Bean Goose, A. 

 segetum, which is generally known as the Common 

 Wild Goose, and which is of more frequent occur- 

 rence in winter than the Greylag, has many times 

 been killed in Middlesex, but of this I have no 

 direct proof. In a note in ' The Zoologist' for 1843, 

 Mr. Bond, referring to wild-fowl killed at Kings- 

 bury Reservoir, says : " One or other of the Grey 

 Geese has occurred several times, but I have not 

 been able to get hold of one to examine." 



WHITEFRONTED GOOSE, Anser albifrons. Pro- 

 vincial, Laughing Goose and Bar Goose ; the former 

 synonym arising from its noisy cackle when on the 

 wing ; the second, from the dark bars upon its breast. 

 Although it has been stated above that the Greylag 

 Goose is supposed to be the original parent of our 

 domestic stock, many naturalists consider that the 

 Whitefronted Goose has a stronger claim in this 

 regard, and urge in support of their views that many 

 of our tame birds are found to have the character- 

 istic orange legs and white forehead of A. albifrons. 



An experienced wildfowler says that this bird does 

 not come so far inland as the other Grey Geese, and 



