226 BRITISH SEA BIRDS. 



species divide themselves into two distinct groups, 

 four of them consisting of the Gray Geese, and two 

 the Black Geese. The birds in the former group 

 are the least maritime in their haunts, visiting 

 the land to feed, whilst those in the latter division 

 are inseparably associated with the sea during their 

 sojourn in our area. As the former group contains 

 the familiar " Wild Goose " which is the original 

 stock from which the farmyard Goose has been 

 derived we will deal first with the species con- 

 tained in it. 



GRAY LAG GOOSE. 



This fine bird, the type of the genus Anser, and 

 the Anser cinereus of most modern writers, claims 

 distinction not only as being the origin of the 

 domestic race, but as the one species indigenous 

 to the British Islands. For nearly a hundred 

 years, however, the Gray Lag Goose has ceased 

 to breed in its old haunts, the English Fens ; 

 it continues to breed, yet very locally, in the 

 Hebrides, and in certain parts of the Highlands. 

 Its domestication must extend to a very ancient 

 date ; yet captivity, beyond increasing its size and 

 its fecundity, has caused but trifling variation in 

 its colour. The bird, therefore, must be too 

 familiar to every reader to require any description 

 here. Once apparently so common, the Gray Lag 

 Goose is now one of our rarest birds, a fact of great 

 significance to the student of the geographical 

 distribution or dispersal of species. The deriva- 



