326 THE GAME BIEDS AND WILD FOWL 



subspecifically distinct. Typical examples are distinguished by their large size 

 (total length, 29 inches), much darker wing coverts, and greater amount of black 

 on the underparts. A. cinereus, a British species, to which the present Goose 

 and its several forms are most nearly related. 



Habits. — Kemarkably little of any value has been recorded concerning the 

 economy of the White-fronted Goose. It is by no means common in our Islands, 

 but here its habits are certainly very similar to those of the allied Geese. Unfor- 

 tunately it is a rare bird in India, and Hume has little to tell us of its habits there 

 in winter. Captain Shelley, however, remarked its abundance in Egypt during 

 the cold season, where it remains until March, usually in flocks. They visit their 

 feeding grounds with great regularity, taking one particular line of flight each 

 day and frequenting particular places, but if shot at soon quit the neighbourhood 

 altogether. The birds that Hume obtained in India had been feeding on wild rice 

 and tender shoots of grass or corn. The note of this Goose is said to be rather 

 more harsh and cackling than that of the preceding species, hence the bird's 

 name in India and other districts of " Laughing " Goose. 



Nidification. — Von Middendorff met with this Goose breeding in great 

 numbers on the tundras of the Taimur Peninsula, the most northerly land of 

 Continental Asia, and states that the nest was built on a grass-covered mound. 

 It was simply a hollow on the top of a mound, lined with plenty of down from the 

 body of the female. Dall, in Alaska, describes nests he found on the banks of 

 the Yukon as depressions in the sand, but this was probably before the full clutch 

 of eggs was laid and no down had been added ; for MacFarlane discovered nests on 

 the Anderson Eiver warmly made of dry grass and well lined with down and 

 feathers. The eggs are from five to seven in number, but ten have been found, 

 creamy-white in colour, and measure on an average 3'0 inches in length by 2'0 

 inches in breadth. The period of incubation is unknown, and doubtless one brood 

 only is reared in the year. 



Diagnostic cliaracters — Anser, with the bill orange-yellow and the 

 nail white, with the legs and feet orange-yellow, and with a variable amount of 

 white feathers at the base of the upper mandible, but not reaching a line between 

 the eyes. Adults much mottled with brownish-black on the breast. Length. 

 27 inches. 



