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and legs, viz. : — " My original pair were perfectly true Pink-footed Geese, there being no suspicion of 

 orange about the bill or legs and feet of either ; the colour on these parts, however, became very pale 

 and faded after the breeding-season, and continued so long into the autumn, but towards the end of 

 autumn it got much brighter, the colour being most intense at the beginning of the breeding-season ; 

 it is the same with those of their young which have orange legs and bill. This pair hatched three 

 young in 1872 ; of these only one reached maturity. The legs and bills of the young were all alike, 

 very dark olive-green, showing no trace of pink as long as they were in the down ; but soon after they 

 began to assume their feathers the colour on the legs and bills began to disclose itself, and those parts 

 in the only survivor of this brood were and still are orange. Since then the old ones have bred every 

 year, some of the young having orange legs and bills, and some pink like their parents. This year the 

 first orange-legged one, a female, had a brood, some of which had orange and some pink bills and legs. 

 I have never seen any mixture of the colours, the legs and bill being either bright orange or bright 

 pink ; there seems to be no gradation between the two. As to the bills, the dark portions (that is, the 

 nail and the base) remain the same whether the other part is orange or pink ; in fact the only part of 

 the bill that shows any change is the part which in the Pink-footed Goose is usually pink." 



It is by no means easy to define the range of this Goose ; for it has been so very frequently 

 confused with its allies the Grey-lag and Bean-Goose. It was not recognized as being specifically 

 distinct until 1833 ; and even many subsequent authors have confounded it with the latter 

 species. So far as I can ascertain, it inhabits the extreme north during the breeding-season, 

 migrating south with the other species in the autumn, and is tolerably widely distributed in 

 South-western Europe during the cold season. It is stated to have occurred in India, and even 

 in Japan ; but its range in Asia is but poorly defined. 



With us in Great Britain it is a common winter visitant, and is regularly found in con- 

 siderable numbers on some parts of our coasts. It has been met with, though rarely, on our 

 south coasts, but is common on our east coasts. Mr. Stevenson has kindly lent me the proof- 

 sheets of his forthcoming volume of the ' Birds of Norfolk,' from which I transcribe the following 

 notes on its occurrence in Norfolk, viz : — " The earliest record of its identification in this country 

 is apparently the notice by Yarrell of a specimen killed at Holkham in January 1841, by the 

 present Earl of Leicester, out of a flock of about twenty, since which time this Goose has proved 

 to be by far the most common species that frequents the Holkham marshes. The following 

 notes on its habits, as observed in that neighbourhood, have been very kindly supplied me by 

 Lord Leicester for use in this work. 



'"As long as I can recollect, Wild Geese frequented the Holkham and Burnham marshes. 

 Their time of appearing in this district is generally the last week of October, and their departure 

 the end of March, varying a little according to the season. Till November they rarely alight in 

 the marshes or elsewhere in the neighbourhood, but are seen passing to and from the sea. 

 Where they feed in October I know not, as I have reason to believe that they do not obtain 

 much food off the muds like the Brents, but live much on grass or new-sown wheat. From early 

 in November till the time of their departure for the north, the Holkham marshes have almost daily 

 some hundreds of Geese feeding on them. There are periods of a week or a fortnight when the 

 greater portion of them go elsewhere ; but it seldom happens that all go. When on the marshes 

 they are mostly in one or two flocks ; but in stormy weather, or even on certain still days, for 

 some unaccountable reason, they break up into small lots. My keepers informed me that one 



