371 



day last week [about the middle of November 1870], which was perfectly calm and still, they 

 were flying about in small lots very low, and that a great many might have been killed.' 



" Referring also to the Goose shot by himself in 1841, and identified by Yarrell as the Pink- 

 footed, his lordship adds, ' Of the many Geese killed here before then, I have reason to believe 

 from their habits they were nearly all the same as those now here — that is, Pink-footed Geese; 

 and of the many hundreds killed since, with the exception, I believe, of only one Bean-Goose and 

 a few White-fronted, they were all Pink-footed. The greatest number obtained in one year was in 

 the severe winter of 1860-61, when one hundred and thirty-eight were killed, all Pink-footed. ' 



" Mr. Dowell, who is also well acquainted with the habits of this species on the north- 

 western side of the county, informs me that they feed in flocks of from one or two to six or 

 seven hundred on the uplands by day, and he has known as many as twenty-seven shot in a day 

 by sportsmen lying up for them behind gate-posts in the Holkham marshes, in a gale of wind, 

 when the Geese fly low. On one occasion, when driving along the road in very snowy weather, 

 at West Barsham, he saw a flock within twenty yards of a fence, but which, strangely enough, 

 did not move, though he hallooed to frighten them. These were probably fatigued by a long 

 flight. He has never met with this species at any time in the salt marshes and tideway at 

 Blakeney. In 1858 he saw a flock of fifty at South Creake as early as the 13th of October ; and 

 some were said to have been seen that year on the 1st of the month. In the winter of 1869 a 

 flock of about five hundred Geese, which were no doubt all Pink-footed, frequented some barley- 

 stubbles within sight of his house at Dunton, near Fakenham. They used to arrive from the 

 coast soon after daylight, and remain till late in the afternoon. The Pink-footed (like the Bean- 

 Goose) also frequents the large upland fields about Anmer and Westacre, and still further inland 

 the open country about Wretham heath. Their nocturnal movements may be inferred from the 

 fact that, on one occasion, as Mr. Cresswell informs me, a fowler, named Charles Hornigold, took 

 seven Grey Geese at a stroke in a short length of netting on the shores of the Wash, near Lynn. 

 These birds, which were in all probability Pink-footed Geese, had so entangled themselves that 

 the net had to be cut to get them out." 



In the Humber district, Mr. Cordeaux writes (B. of Humb. Distr. p. 149), it "occurs 

 occasionally, but never in such large flocks as the Bean-Goose. Is not unfrequently found 

 singly, or two or three together in our marshes and lowlands, and is more easily approached 

 than either the Grey-lag or Bean-Goose. In its habits it prefers lowlying districts and wet carr 

 or marsh land near the coast, as a rule, not resorting to the higher wolds to the same extent as 

 its congener, the Bean-Goose. Mr. Boulton says it is found occasionally in the neighbourhood 

 of Beverley, and is generally flushed singly and not in flocks." 



According to Mr. J. Hancock it is not an uncommon winter visitant to the coasts of North- 

 umberland and Durham ; and, referring to its occurrence in Scotland, Mr. Robert Gray writes 

 (B. of W. of Scotl. p. 345) as follows : — "The late Mr. John Macgillivray announced many years 

 ago that he had found the Pink-footed Goose breeding in considerable numbers on the islands in 

 the Sound of Harris, and also on the lakes of North Uist; but subsequent observations have 

 proved that he had mistaken the Grey-lag for that species. The Pink-footed Goose is, in fact, 

 only found in the winter months in any part of Scotland ; and, with the exception of the western 

 islands, no locality can boast of it in any numbers. In Montrose basin it appears to be a regular 



