CHAP. XIx.} WILD GEESE. 151. 
CHAPTER XIX. 
Wild Geese: Arrival of; Different kinds of Anecdotes of—Shooting Wild 
Geese — Feeding-places— Wariness — Habits — Breeding-places — Black- 
headed Gull—Birds that breed on the River-banks. 
On the 2nd of March a flock of twelve wild geese passed 
over my house, flying eastwards towards the Loch of Spynie: 
these are the first birds of the kind I have seen this spring. 
On the 6th I hear of the same flock being seen feeding on a 
clover-field to the eastward, in the flat country between this place 
and Loch Spynie. This flock of geese are said to have been 
occasionally seen during the whole winter about the peat-mosses 
beyond Brodie, there having been no severe frost or snow to 
drive them southward. 
The first wild geese that we see here are not the common grey 
goose, but the white-fronted or luughing goose, Anas albifrons, 
called by Buffon 2’ Oye rieuse. This bird has a peculiarly harsh 
and wild cry, whence its name. It differs in another respect 
also from the common grey goose, in preferring clover and 
green wheat to corn for its food. Indeed this bird appears to 
me to be wholly graminiferous. Unlike the grey goose too, it 
roosts, when undisturbed, in any grass-tield where it may have 
been feeding in the afternoon, instead of taking to the bay every 
night for its sleeping-quarters. The laughing goose also never 
appears here in large flocks, but in small companies of from eight 
or nine to twenty birds. 
Though very watchful at all times, they are more easily ap- 
proached than the grey goose, and often feed on ground that 
admits of stalking them. I see them occasionally feeding in 
small swamps and patches of grass surrounded by high banks, 
furze, or trees. The grey goose appears to select the most open 
and extensive fields in the country to feed in, always avoiding 
any bank or hedge that may conceal a foe. 
On the 10th of March last year, when out rabbit-shooting in a 
