Grey- Lag Goose 37 



the open water. I have often had occasion to observe the geese at this time. The female 

 first shows her head out of the reeds, takes a rapid glance round, listens a moment, 

 and having assured herself that all is quiet, descends with a low cackle to the water ; the 

 goslings follow her in a crowd, the gander bringing up the rear. . . . They next come out 

 on the bank, and proceed to satisfy their hunger ; but the gander has no time for eating — 

 he snatches a mouthful or two and then listens. No sooner has he noticed something 

 suspicious than he at once begins a low cackle to warn his family ; if the danger has passed, 

 he again utters his low note, but now in a different and more soothing tone than at first ; 

 in the opposite event, with a loud cry he betakes himself to flight, wholly forgetful of his 

 offspring/' 



When the goslings are fairly grown up and almost fully fledged, the old birds moult 

 — the ganders somewhat the earlier, and after them the geese, — and, having simultaneously 

 lost all their primary and secondary wing-feathers, they become, like the ducks, perfectly 

 helpless. Knowing this, they duly retire to still safer strongholds, where they pass this 

 dangerous but not very prolonged period of their life. 



This precaution does not, however, always save them, and a great multitude of 

 moulting geese, both old birds and partially fledged young, fall into the hands of man. 



All the geese which fall to the gun, together with those taken as they alight, are very 

 few compared with the number of fully fledged birds driven into fixed nets, and then taken 

 by hand or killed with sticks or dogs, throughout the length and breadth of Russia and 

 the adjacent countries. It is true that among the number the grey-lag is not the chief or 

 exclusive victim, but this species is destroyed in large numbers, especially if we take into 

 account the widely spread collecting of its eggs in spring. 



When the young geese have grown their flight-feathers and the old birds are fully 

 fledged, they begin to fly out to the fields to feed, sometimes in separate broods, at other 

 times in parties ; and it sometimes happens that their feeding-grounds are far removed from 

 their places of refuge. In central and southern Russia the flight of the geese to the fields 

 begins about the middle of July. 



Severtsov states, for example, that in the Voronezh Government the young birds 

 leave between July 15 and August 20, and, " until the time of their departure, fly first to feed 

 in the oat-fields and then to the young crops of winter corn, in flocks gradually increasing 

 in numbers. Only the migrating flocks present the characteristic wedge. They may be seen 

 throughout the first half of October. The direction of flight is south-west. The migration 

 of these geese coincides with the autumn arrival of A user segetum and A. torqitatus" l 



We owe to Vavilov the following life-like description of these foraging expeditions. 

 " A little later the separate broods combine to form flocks ; and from this moment the geese 

 no longer fall such an easy prey to the fowler. Such gaggles feed in the corn-fields, especially 

 buckwheat, peas, and oats. Having once selected a field, they constantly fly to it, even 

 continuing to visit it after the harvest to glean the scattered grain. At this period the 

 geese live a life of ease and luxury. With sundown they fly to the field, crowding the 

 crops to an incredible extent, and at the call of the old birds rising heavily and making for 

 the lonely lake to pass the night. They always fly by the same route, and as soon as they 

 reach water at once descend and devote their first attention to slaking their thirst, and then 

 swim to the selected open shore, where they get out, lie down, and fall asleep. The 

 old birds alone do not sleep, but divide the watches, and if they hear anything suspicious, 



1 Melanonyx arvensis and Bra?ita bernicla of this book. 



