16 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



wide, deep and dangerous for a punt. This channel is the sluice- 

 way for part of the harbour water direct into the breakers of the 

 North Sea, and down it or up it, according as the tide is ebbing 

 or flowing, the water runs like a millrace. Between 500 and 600 

 Grey Geese were sitting along the seaside of the isthmus on either 

 side of the outlet channel. The punt was lying at the opposite 

 end of the channel, i. e., on the harbour side, and exactly 180 

 yards from the geese. The only means of a nearer approach was 

 down the channel with the ebb, or, as my puntsman quietly 

 remarked, " To perdition in ten feet of water among the breakers." 

 There sat the geese, all unconscious of our presence. Every- 

 thing about them was as clear as daylight through the binoculars, 

 with this exception — I could not identify the colour of the 

 nail on the beak ; and so, alas ! they remain unidentified to 

 this day. 



Before putting the birds up, we gave them gentle cause for 

 alarm, and it was maddening to see how they separated into 

 companies, each company so concentrating itself in its fear, that 

 if only I could have come within range, a heavy shot must have 

 been the result. On walking over the place where they had been 

 sitting, it was evident that many were moulting their quills, as 

 these feathers lay about all over. 



During October and November these geese remain with us, 

 and indeed as long as good stubble food is to be found. As soon, 

 however, as the plough begins its work, and their feeding-grounds 

 are destroyed, they rapidly increase in numbers, and before 

 Christmas there are very few left, perhaps a dozen or two. 

 About February and March they reappear in all their strength, 

 making daily raids on the hard corn till their appointed time of 

 departure in April to breed. 



Grey Geese very seldom alight on the ooze. On the one 

 occasion when I am told they did so, they paid a heavy penalty 

 for their rashness. 



Judging from Grey Geese shot by old gunners, and from 

 what has been written on the subject, it would seem that most of 

 the birds visiting us in autumn belong to the Pink-footed and 

 Bean species. When, however, it is remembered that they dis- 

 appear in winter almost entirely, I can see no valid objection to 

 their being real Grey-lags, Ansei' ferus. The latter breed 

 numerously on the Scandinavian seaboard (as well as sparsely in 



