1 86 ANSERINE. 



preceding years. From its unusual dimensions it appeared a 

 good load for a wheelbarrow. The young of the baldcoot, 

 like those of the water hen and crakes, run about immediately 

 after escaping from the shell. 



According to Degland, we are informed of a curious yearly 

 battue of coots which takes place in the north of France on 

 the approach of winter. The birds being collected in great 

 numbers, preparatory to seeking a more southern tempera- 

 ture, offer such inducement to the shooter, that 800 or 1000 

 coots have been obtained in a day.* 



Becoming tame and familiar in confinement, coots were 

 well known to the ancients, who kept them in their houses 

 as pets, and believed them to have a peculiar mode of drinking, 

 by soaking the foot in water and raising it to the bill.f 



Indigenous. 



ORDER V. NATATORES (SWIMMING BIRDS). 

 FAMILY XXXII ANSERINE (GEESE). 



GENUS XCII. ANSER (GOOSE). 



SPECIES 179 THE GRAY LAG-GOOSE. 



Anser ferus. Selby. 

 Oie cendree ou premiere. Temm. 



Wild Goose. 



THE GRAY LAG, or, more correctly, the gray-legged goose, 

 is, with the exception of the Canada goose, the rarest in its 

 occurrence in our island. Of large size, and resembling some 

 specimens of the domestic goose in appearance, it is believed 

 to have been the original species to which we are indebted 

 for our common farm bird. More unusual in its occurrence 

 in England than in our own island, Mr. Yarrell remarks of 

 its appearance in the London markets, " that now whole 

 winters pass away without a single example." 



From our notes of the occurrence of this species, from 1845, 

 in the Dublin markets, and elsewhere in the island, we are 

 induced to give the average as about three birds to each two 



* Ornithologie Europeenne. t Pliny. 



