236 BRITISH BIRDS. 



THE GREY LAG GOOSE. 



WILD GOOSE. 



(Anser Ferus, Temm. Oie cendree ou premiere, 

 Temm.) 



GENERALLY weighs about ten pounds, and mea- 

 sures two feet nine inches in length, and five in 

 breadth. The bill is thick at the base, tapers 

 towards the tip, and is of a yellowish red colour, 

 with the nail white: the head and neck are of a 

 cinereous brown, tinged with dull yellow, and from 

 the separations of the feathers, the latter appears 

 striped downwards : the upper part of the plumage 

 is of a deep brown, mixed with ash-grey; each 

 feather is lighter on the edges, and the lesser 

 coverts are tipped with white: the webs of the 

 primary quills are grey, the tips black : the second- 

 aries black, edged with white : the breast and belly 

 are crossed and clouded with dusky and ash on a 

 whitish ground; and the tail coverts and vent are 

 of a snowy whiteness: the middle feathers of the 

 tail are dusky, tipped with white; those adjoining 

 more deeply tipped, and the exterior ones nearly 

 all white : the wings do not reach to the extremity 

 of the tail: legs pale red. 



The Grey Lag Goose is said to have been for- 

 merly very plentiful all the year in this country, it 

 is now, however, only occasionally met with, 

 probably from the draining of the fens of Lin- 

 colnshire and Cambridgeshire: it has no doubt for- 

 merly been confounded with the Bean Goose, and 



