At the Haunt of the Grey Geese 



shore, but becoming tired of this, and being scarcely able to 

 keep pace with the tide, allow themselves to be overtaken, 

 and dip down to feel the coolness of the sea, ultimately 

 swimming in a body a short distance off shore. 



I have advisedly spoken of these birds as "grey geese " as, 

 unless a near view is obtained, and that under the best con- 

 ditions of light, it is almost impossible to identify them with 

 certainty. 



Three species of geese — grey lag, pink-footed, and bean— ^ 

 are commonly known collectively as "grey geese." In size, 

 and in the colour of their legs, the three species have dis- 

 tinctive peculiarities; but these cannot be readily determined 

 unless the bird is shot. If a good view be obtained of the 

 geese through the glass, perhaps the surest method of identi- 

 fication is by the bill. In the grey lag this is tipped with 

 white, and in the bean and pink-footed with black. Of the 

 two latter species, the bean is usually the larger of the two, 

 the bill is not so short, and there is a wider band of black 

 about the basal portion. The true grey lag — although the 

 three species are habitually referred to by shore gunners as 

 grey lags — is comparatively rare along the Northumbrian 

 coast. 



I am just able from where I lie to make out the black tip 

 of the bill of one of the feeding geese, but I am not sufficiently 

 near to be certain whether the birds are of the pink-footed or 

 bean species, though I am inclined to think the latter. 

 Neither the bean nor the pink-footed goose breeds as far south 

 as our latitudes. The former is supposed to nest in North 

 Iceland, and the latter has been found breeding in 

 Spitzbergen. 



It is curious that the grey geese should remain at their 

 winter quarters at a time when their relatives, the brent geese, 

 have all taken their departure; for the breeding grounds of the 

 last-named lie fully as far to the north as those of the grey 

 geese. 



In February hundreds of brents and thousands of widgeon 



13 



