80 ORNAMENTAL WATERFOWL. 
the first small and free, a full web connecting the remainder ; 
the claws are short and blunt. The Geese inhabit chiefly the 
Arctic and Antarctic regions in summer, migrating in autumn 
to warmer climates. They are gregarious, fly rapidly and 
strongly, walk slowly and awkwardly, swim rapidly, but do not 
dive. Their food is entirely vegetable, consisting principally of 
grass. Their nests are placed on the ground, generally near 
water. The eggs of the Amseres are usually of a dull white 
colour, from six to thirteen in number, incubation lasting from 
four to five weeks. There are nine known species of this 
genus, of which the following have not yet, as far as I know, been 
introduced alive :—Anser ferus, A. rubrirostris, A. albifrous, 
A. gambeh, A. erythropus, A. fabalis, A. serrivostris, A. 
brachyrhynchus, A. indicus. 
GRAY-LAG OR WILD GOOSE. 
(Anser cinereus. Anser ferus). 
This species is the stock of our domestic birds, and occurs 
in Europe, Asia, and Africa, visiting our shores in the winter, 
when it arrives in flocks of from twenty to thirty. It is very 
swift and strong on the wing, and when migrating flies very high 
in a double line like a <, led by an old gander, but it is said 
to fly lower in foggy weather. It nests among rushes, and has 
been found in Finland and in the North of Scotland during the 
months of May and June, when it is extremely shy and difficult 
to shoot. Mr. Alfred Cocks, in answer to a query as to 
whether these pink-footed geese breed on the Continent of 
Europe, says :— 
**So far as I have seen they go only to the extra-continentalk 
countries of Spitzbergen, Norway, and Zembla; as I shot an adult in 
Iceland in August, probably there as well. Both they and the Brent are in 
very large quantities in Spitzbergen during the summer. The eggs are laid 
a good way up the sloping shore-sides, and the quills are all moulted within. 
