ANATIDJE. 



459 



heather, either on an island in some lake or near 

 the borders of one. It has also been known to 

 breed in confinement. 



The food of the present species, like that of the 

 other Wild Geese, consists of various sorts of 

 grasses, tender shoots and roots of aquatic plants, 

 young growing corn, and peas and beans ; indeed 

 where they are numerous they do considerable 

 damage to these crops, punishing the farmers new- 

 sown beans in early spring through the day, and 

 "paidling about in the mud at nicht, deil tak' 

 them."* There may be some little difficulty in 

 identifying the four species of our wild Grey Geese ; 

 the leading distinctions, however, have been very 

 shortly and neatly summed up by Mr. Hailing, in a 

 paper published in the ' Zoologist ' for 1867, on the 

 distinguishing characters of some nearly allied 

 species of British Birds, as follows : 



Species. 



GREYLAG . . 

 BEAN . . . 



PlNKFOOTED . 



WHTTEFRONTED 



Bill. 



nail 



Flesh-colour ; 



white. 

 Orange; nail, edges 



and base black. 

 Pink; nail and base 



black. 



Pink ; nail and base 

 white ; forehead 

 white. 



Legs. 



Flesh-colour. 

 Orange. 



Pink, tinged with ver- 

 milion, like Egyp- 

 tian Goose. 



Orange. 



'Zoologist' for 1867 (Second Series, p. 902). 



