BEAN GOOSE. 159 
BEAN GOOSE. 
ANSER SEGETUM, Gmel. 
Pl. XXV., fig. 2. 
Geogr. distr.—Europe and Asia, breeding in the north; migrating 
southwards to winter in South Europe: according to Yarrell, it breeds 
in Westmoreland, Scotland, and the Hebrides, but this statement 
requires confirmation. 
Food.—Seeds, grain, grass, aquatic plants, vegetables, Mollusca. 
Nest.—Like that of the Grey Lag Goose. 
Position of nest.—Same as that of the Gray Lag. 
Number of egqs.—6-7. 
Time of nidification.— V1. 
Unless this species and its nest have been confounded 
with the Grey Lag, there seems no satisfactory reason for 
doubting that it does breed in Great Britain. At any rate 
the burden of disproving the existence of British eggs 
rests with those who disbelieve in them, a task which I fear 
they will find almost impossible, owing to the similarity of 
the nests and eggs, and the fact that the present species is 
stated to be very shy. At the same time, as Mr. Seebohm 
says, ‘‘there seems to be no evidence that it has ever bred 
in any part of the British Islands,” although in spring and 
autumn it is a constant visitor to our shores. 
Mr. Seebohm thus describes the nesting of this species :— 
“The Bean Goose repairs to the lakes on the Tundra, and 
chooses a hillock on the bank or an islet in the lake itself 
where the rushes and sedge are tall enough to conceal the 
sitting bird. A slight hollow is scraped in the soil, and 
lined with dead grass, moss, sometimes a few feathers, and 
always plenty of the light grey down of the bird itself. The 
number of eggs was generally three, but often four.”— 
Hist. Brit. Birds, vol. i., p. 495.) 
