356 



coverts, are white ; central tail-feathers ashy brown margined and broadly tipped with white ; rest of 

 the tail-feathers ashy brown on the outer and white on the inner web, and broadly tipped with white ; 

 underparts dull white, the flanks ashy brown broadly tipped with brownish white ; a few black spots on 

 the belly ; under wing-coverts pale ashy grey ; bill and legs flesh-coloured, nail and claws white ; iris 

 brown. Total length about 33 inches, culmen 2"55, wing 18"0, tail 5 - 9, tarsus 33. 



Young. Differs from the adult in being darker and duller in colour, the ashy grey on the wings duller and 

 darker, and the white on the forehead and black spots on the underparts are entirely wanting. 



Young in down (Sutherland). Covered with close down; the upper parts olivaceous brown; forehead, sides 

 of the head, hind neck, part of the breast, and the flanks greenish yellow, rest of the underparts 

 yellowish white ; bill and feet flesh-coloured. 



This Goose, the original stock from which our domestic Goose has sprung, is widely distributed 

 throughout the Palsearctic Region, ranging south in winter to North Africa and India, but it 

 does not occur in America. In Great Britain the Grey-lag Goose is only a winter resident or 

 found on passage in the southern counties, but it breeds regularly in the north of Scotland. It 

 occurs here and there, though rarely, on the south coasts of England ; and though it used to 

 breed regularly in the Lincolnshire and Norfolk fens up to the end of the last century, it is now, 

 Mr. Stevenson informs me, only a somewhat rare straggler. Mr. Cordeaux writes (B. of Humber 

 District, p. 147) that " though at one period a permanent resident in the Humber district, 

 breeding in considerable numbers in the fens of Lincolnshire and carrs of Yorkshire, and is 

 probably the originator of the present domestic breed, now it only occurs in the autumn as a 

 rather rare wanderer." In Northumberland and Durham it is, Mr. Hancock says, " a casual 

 visitant. This Goose occasionally occurs in winter, singly, or in twos or threes, but never in 

 large flocks. It does not appear with sufficient regularity to entitle it to rank as an annual 

 visitant." 



In Scotland, Mr. E. Gray writes (B. of W. of Scotl. p. 339): — "Being a permanent resident 

 in the Long Island, this species is perhaps the best-known of all the wild geese which frequent 

 that extensive district. The Grey-lag breeds in nearly all the islands of the outer group. It is 

 common in North Uist, Benbecula, and South Uist, and is found occupying the breeding-stations 

 early in May. Mr. Harvie-Brown took a nest of eggs which were hard sat upon on 2nd May 

 1870; but Mr. Elwes, who visited the Long Island in 1868, saw flocks of as many as thirty 

 together later in the season. The nest, which resembles that of a Great Black-headed Gull when 

 found breeding upon heath-clad islands, with the exception of being lined with down and feathers, 

 is generally placed in a tuft of coarse grass, or among rank heather, and contains from four to 

 six eggs. When the young are fully fledged they keep together in a family group for some weeks, 

 and are often seen shifting their quarters from one side of the island to the other. I have 

 noticed small flocks of seven or eight birds in the beginning of August ; and a month later I have 

 observed as many as forty or fifty ; but about the middle of October the various families collect 

 into still larger flocks, and continue together until the month of April following, when they 

 break up for the season." 



It still breeds regularly in Sutherlandshire ; and Mr. J. A. Harvie-Brown says : — There it 

 " is still a plentiful species ; but I am sadly afraid it will before very long, unless stringent 



