336 THE GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOWL 



migration it occurs in the Faroes, but is doubtfully recorded from 

 Iceland. It visits Holland, Belgium, and France on passage, 

 sometimes remaining to winter during mild seasons, and is also 

 known on migration in Central Europe, and is a winter visitor to 

 both coasts of the Mediterranean and the Spanish peninsula. 

 The Asiatic birds winter in China south to Shanghai, and in 

 Northern India. 



Allied Forms. — Anser dnereus rubrirostris . Eastern ex- 

 amples of the Gray Lag Goose are said to be rather larger than 

 those from Western localities, and to have more black on the 

 underparts and less gray on the wing coverts, but whether these 

 differences are of sufficient constancy and importance to merit 

 subspecific rank is still an open question. A. albifrons and A. 

 albifrons minutus, British species, dealt with fully in the following 

 chapter. 



Time during which the Gray Lag Goose may be taken. 



— August ist to March ist (to March isth in Essex). 



Habits. — The Gray Lag Goose does not go so far north to 

 breed as the preceding species, and consequently its migrations 

 are performed earlier in spring, and in some localities the return 

 south is also much sooner than is usually the case with birds that 

 seek their summer quarters early. The return migration begins 

 early in March, both in Europe and in Asia. Naumann states 

 that they arrived in Germany at the end of February or early the 

 following month. Hume says that they begin to leave India 

 early in March, and continue to do so throughout that month, 

 whilst Scully observed them at Yarkand in Turkestan, flying due 

 north at a corresponding date. The return migration is said by 

 Naumann to begin in Germany towards the end of July, and a 

 month later most of the birds have gone ; but in Upper India this 

 Goose is not observed until the end of October, and in the south 

 - a week or so later still. In its winter quarters it is a very gre- 

 garious bird, and often congregates into large flocks of many 

 hundreds which, when passing from one distant place to another, 

 or during migration, fly high either in a single line or in the shape 

 of a V or a W, but when simply charging their feeding grounds 

 progress in scattered order. Although so gregarious, it is rather 

 a remarkable fact that the Gray Lag Goose seldom consorts with 



