56 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 



fourteen eggs have been found in nests. The colour is a creamy or yellowish 

 white. Montagu, writing of the Lincolnshire fens, gives the number as eight or 

 nine, of a dirty white. The time occupied in incubation is twenty-eight days. 



In the autumn and winter, small flocks or parties of Grey Lags are occasionally 

 seen in various parts of England— tbey rarely exceed, however, seven or eight 

 birds. These almost invariably resort to extensive tracks of pasture in the mari- 

 time marshes, keeping close together near the centre of the field, one or other 

 being always on the watch whilst the remainder graze. 



Although partial to all sorts of grain, they feed, at this season, almost 

 exclusively on short sweet grasses, like the smaller fescues,— grazing exactly after 

 the manner of their congeners on the village common. 



Mr. C. St. John (Natural History and Sport in Moray) sa3-s that Avser ferns, 

 the present species, " appear to be more inclined to graze on the short grass and 

 other herbs, than to seek out the corn-fields like the Bean Goose." The power 

 of vision in wild Geese is most acute, so also their sense of smell and hearing. 

 When Grey Lags are disturbed they rise and fly, at a low elevation, to some distant 

 part of the marsh, and if a sportsman is lucky enough to hit off their line of 

 flight, and keep concealed, he will be tolerably certain of a shot. They are 

 invariably so excessively wary, that it is impossible to approach within shooting 

 distance in the open. On the wing they can readily be distinguished from other 

 species at a distance, by their large size, light colour, and blue-grey shoulders, and 

 the wing- coverts, which form two conspicuous bars across the wing ; also their cry 

 or gaggle, which is by no means unmusical. 



Mr. Robert Gray, writing of his experiences in South Uist, says : — " In the 

 stillness of the Sabbath morning following my arrival, I was aroused from sleep 

 by the cries of the Grey Lags as they flew past the house. Their voices, softened 

 by distance, sounded not unpleasantly, reminding one of the clanging of Church 

 bells in the heart of a large town." 



I am, unfortunately, not in possession of sufi&cient data to determine the time 

 when the Grey Lag-Goose ceased to nest in the eastern counties. In Lincolnshire 

 this was probably about the commencement of the century, when their last retreat 

 was broken up, in the East Fen, by drainage— the Act for which was obtained 

 in 1801. 



The naturalist. Pennant, writing in 1766, remarks of the Grey Lag:—" This 

 species resides in the fens the whole year; breeds there, and hatches about eight 

 or nine young, which are often taken, easily made tame, and esteemed most 

 excellent meat, superior to the domestic Goose. The old Geese, which are shot, 

 are plucked and sold in the market as fine tame ones, and readily bought — the 



