GEESE AND GOOSE-LIKE BIRDS. 



GRAY LAG-GOOSE.— Plate 88. Length, 35 inches. 

 Head, neck, and upper parts ashy-brown ; the wings at 

 the bend and the rump bluish-gray ; throat and breast 

 ashy-gray ; sides of body brown ; belly white ; wing- 

 lining gray ; bill flesh-colour, with white nail (the 

 nail is the depressed part at the front of the upper 

 mandible) ; legs and feet flesh-colour. Resident and 

 winter migrant. 



Eggs. — 5-6, dull yellowish- white ; 3'5 x 2-4 inches 

 (plate 130). 



Nest. — Of twigs, reeds, and moss, the eggs being 

 surrounded with feathers from tha bird's Qwn breast ; 

 it is placed among coarse herbage or heather. 



Distribution. — North of Scotland and Hebrides; 

 Ireland, in winter, chiefly south and west ; elsewhere 

 rarely. 



The Gray Lag is the only wild Goose breeding in 

 the British Isles ; it does so chiefly in the north of 

 Scotland, being known elsewhere only as a winter 

 visitor. It is gregarious, and feeds by day on grass and 

 grain, occurring commonly in stubble lands. Towards 

 night the birds retire to some open space to sleep, not 

 infrequently the seashore. Like all Geese and Ducks, 

 they fly high in V-formation — that is, with a leader 

 followed by two diverging lines of birds. This is 

 one of four species^ — two larger and two smaller — of 

 land-feeding Geese of a generally gray colour, dis- 



