32 Geese of Europe and Asia 



e.g., in the Merv oasis, where, moreover, it is a constant resident, and where the inhabitants 

 keep wild geese in large numbers reared from young in down taken alive or hatched from 

 collected eggs. Even in Persia, one of the important winter haunts of this bird, it breeds 

 and is resident in some spots. As has been already said, we also find it nesting throughout 

 Turkestan. Returning to European Russia, we find it breeding in the Governments of 

 Yaroslavl, Vladimir, Simbirsk, Kazan, Voronezh, along the whole of the middle and lower 

 Volga (here in large quantities *), and throughout the Cis and Trans-Ural. Great numbers 

 also breed in the Governments of Orenburg, Ufa, Kostroma, Perm, Yekaterinburg (especially 

 large flocks), and Vyatka. In the central and southern Governments, save perhaps a few 

 isolated spots, wherever there are suitable open places, the grey-lag breeds even now. During 

 migration, indeed, it is probably met with over the whole of Russia, although, as we have 

 already said, it is apparently no longer found in the Moscow Government ; but if it is not 

 seen there even on migration, this is not enough to prove that it does not pass over that 

 district. Most probably it no longer alights there during its flight, that is, does not drop to 

 rest. I have already stated in general terms that in Siberia, from the lower course of the Obi, 

 where the breeding-grounds overstep the Arctic circle, their northern limit falls rapidly towards 

 the east. Thus we know roughly that the species nests in the Tomsk region, thence on to Lake 

 Baikal and Transbaikalia, Northern Mongolia, the upper waters of the Amur, and the whole 

 of the Ussuri district. The determination of a more exact northern or southern boundary 

 to the breeding-grounds of this species on the Asiatic continent is not, however, at present 

 possible. There is no doubt that to the south of the points mentioned it nests in abundance ; 

 but the question is how far to the south it descends for this purpose. If the expedition to 

 the Altai, under Prof. N. F. Kashchenko, in 1898, did not meet with this goose, this by no 

 means proves that it does not nest there at all. The Altai is an extensive region, and no 

 doubt spots may be found there perfectly adapted to this species, which breeds in the whole 

 of Zungaria. In the Thian Shan I observed considerable numbers, not only in the foot- 

 hills, in the valley of the Hi, but at a height of 7000 feet, on the Yuldus plateau, and do not 

 doubt that it occurs everywhere on suitable waters. In Mongolia, as we shall see later, 

 Przewalski found it breeding. The opinion that it does not nest but merely winters in 

 China seems to me extremely doubtful ; and although it winters in China in large numbers, 

 it may be confidently supposed that it breeds there in places, and also is here and there a 

 permanent resident. As to India, it must be supposed that this country only serves as 

 winter quarters for a number of grey-lag bred in more northern regions of Asia, especially 

 Siberia and the whole of Turkestan. 



I will now endeavour to indicate as briefly as possible the breeding-grounds and 

 winter haunts of this goose in other districts. Besides the whole of the continent of Western 

 Europe, where it breeds universally, wherever conditions permit, we know that the grey-lag 

 nests in numbers in the north of Norway on all the islands adjacent to the mainland. 

 In Iceland, Messrs. Pearson found young goslings of this species on July 1, 2, and 3, 

 1894. Formerly it bred plentifully on Lake Sorvaag, in Faroe, but it has long since been 

 driven away by the inhabitants, so that it is now met with only during its two migrations. 

 In Great Britain it was formerly an ordinary resident, but at the present time it is no longer 

 found either in England proper or in Wales or Ireland, but only in the more northerly 

 portion of Scotland and in the Hebrides. In Spain, especially in the marismas and lagunas 

 of the southern half of the country, grey-lags are found in considerable numbers, while they 



1 "Priroda i Okhota," 1875, Feb. and March, Primorskaga Okhota pod Astrakhanyu. 



