Bean Goose. 457 



of the eastern counties, and which, until very lately, if not still, 

 underwent the cruel process of plucking, and were driven out to 

 pasture in the morning and brought home at night by the goose- 

 herd or ' gozzard ;' very] much as Sir Francis Head described 

 in his famous 'Bubbles from the Brunnens of Nassau,' only 

 there the flock consisted of contributions from many owners, one 

 or two from each house in some German village ; but here the 

 whole flock, often some hundreds in number, was the property 

 of one owner. In France it is Oie cendrtfe ; in Germany, Wilde 

 gemeine Gans ; in Italy, Oca paglietane ; in Spain and Portugal, 

 Ganso bravo ; and in Sweden Grd-Gds. 



176. BEAN GOOSE (Anser segetuni). 



This is so much more common amongst us in these days, that 

 it has now generally usurped the title of its larger relative last 

 described, and is known as ' the Wild Goose.' Specimens occur 

 in various parts of the county almost every winter, and during 

 the hard weather in January of this year (1887) the Kev. H. 

 Algar, occupying my house at Yatesbury, wrote me word that he 

 saw six presumably of this species, pitched in Yatesbury Field, 

 though at his approach they of course took wing. The general 

 colour of the beak is black, the middle of it flesh-red, and the 

 nail at the extremity black ; the form of the beak is also shorter 

 and stouter than is the case with A. ferus. These birds fly 

 in flocks varying in form according to their. size, a little band 

 always flying in a long line in Indian file, and in close order, 

 looking as if linked together by a string ; hence they are spoken 

 of as a ' skein ' of geese : but a large flock, called a ' gaggle,' 

 probably from the cackling noise it perpetually keeps up, assumes 

 a > like form, the sharp angle being always forward, and one 

 bird acting as leader and taking the head of the party, while the 

 rest form themselves into two lines converging towards their 

 guide ; the same bird, however, does not always keep its place 

 at the van, but after a time falls into the line, and another takes 

 its post. This interesting manoeuvre was first pointed out to me 

 in Norfolk many years ago by the famous Arctic voyager, Captain 



