Зб Geese of Europe and Asia 



that the warmer the climate the sooner after leaving the egg do the goslings make acquaint- 

 ance with water. At first the young birds nip off the tender tops of various water-weeds 

 projecting above the surface, but the mother soon tries to lead them away to a green bank or 

 an island, where they begin to graze in the fashion they will follow for the rest of their lives. 

 Towards nightfall the brood returns to the nest, where the young are kept warm under the 

 wings of the mother. Such is the daily life of the young brood until the goslings have 

 grown so large that they cannot find room beneath their mother's wings ; but even after 

 this they still pass several nights huddled close to her body. The brood usually goes to 

 feed in the following order : in front the goose, and in her wake the goslings, crowded closely 

 together; somewhat to the rear stalks the gander, with neck outstretched, constantly turning 

 to one side or the other, and keeping a sharp look-out for any threatening danger or sus- 

 picious object. Notwithstanding this watchfulness, in case of actual danger the gander is 

 the first to take wing with a loud cackle, or rather cry, full of fear, leaving the care of 

 saving his children to the female, which, it must be owned, fulfils her duty with complete 

 self-sacrifice. Her first care in the presence of danger is indeed to hide her young wherever 

 possible in the grass or undergrowth, and if there be water at hand the brood will sometimes 

 rush in headlong and seek safety in diving. 



If a gosling be caught and removed from the brood, it is said that the mother will fly 

 at the robber and pursue him for a considerable distance. Both goslings and old birds when 

 they wish to hide will lie down flat on the ground, with neck stretched out to its full length ; 

 this being the habit of large but not yet fully fledged young birds and moulting old ones, 

 although it is not peculiar to the grey-lag, but common to all geese. In case of the death of 

 the parents, the goslings usually join other broods, and are willingly received by the parents 

 of the latter. 



Naumann relates a somewhat strange trait in the life of the grey-lag— namely, that 

 sometimes the geese will fly off with their offspring from a large sheet of water to a smaller 

 one, and back again, without visible cause, but with extraordinary persistence and obstinacy. 

 When they have decided to abandon any particular water, they carry out their intention at 

 any cost, even if all the goslings should perish in doing so. The feeble young in down, 

 when hardly two weeks old, are transferred by the parents to other waters lying within a 

 two or three hours' march across the open fields, or along country roads, past mills, and even 

 through settlements, so that, in such apparently aimless wanderings, the young often perish 

 from the assaults of rapacious foes, or simply from the hardships of the journey. Even if 

 the goslings are caught and reinstated several times on the waters whence the parents had 

 taken them, the latter do not abandon their senseless conduct, but again obstinately carry 

 off their offspring. An attempt has been made to explain such persistency on their part by 

 the instinct of the geese to abandon waters which, according to a presentiment, will dry up 

 in the course of the year ; but it is more probable, I think, that the tendency to wander in 

 these birds is caused by the desire to find safer and less accessible spots for the moulting of 

 the old birds — a habit which, as we know, is common to the representatives of the genus 

 Melanonyx, and has been described in Seebohm's Siberia in Europe. In any case, it 

 must be presumed that one and the same incentive causes the wanderings of grey-lag and 

 bean-geese {Melanonyx), and probably other species as well. 



Of the first period in the life of the goslings Vavilov gives us a very true picture, 

 which I here quote in full. " At first the goslings eat bog-nuts and various water-plants. 

 They feed at dawn and sunset, and then it is they quit their stronghold and swim out into 



