Grey- Lag Goose 39 



quality of the sound with which these syllables are pronounced. The loud cry of alarm 

 of the grey-lag is very distinct from its quiet cackle on the wing or its low converse with 

 its mate, or, finally, the thundering cackle of a large flock. On the whole, the individual 

 loud cries have a trumpet-like metallic sound, which defies even approximate expression. 

 To recognise the note of the grey-lag, even from afar, is, however, not difficult, and it cannot 

 be confused with any other bird's cry. 



Assuming the geese to have arrived at their winter quarters, we may now discuss 

 how they pass this dull time in their lives. For this purpose we may take the following 

 excellent description by Mr. Zhitnikov of the wintering of geese on the river Atrek in the 

 Transcaspian territory: " As regards the winter mode of life of the grey-lag, it presents the 

 opposite of that of the lively, active, lesser white-fronted goose (A user finmarchicus). As 

 the latter is regular in its habits, so the wintering grey-lag is languid and inactive, and the 

 character of its life in this period is not clearly ascertainable on account of the lack of system 

 and order. Until the appearance of the inundations of the aryks (irrigation canals) the geese 

 pass whole days in dense growths of reeds, surrounded by quagmires, and inaccessible alike 

 for man and beast; only rarely do individual flocks wander about the steppe or in the 

 paddy-fields, without any periodicity in time. As soon, however, as the land becomes over- 

 flowed, the geese return and spend whole days there, sometimes remaining for the night 

 and sometimes returning to the reeds for the sake of a change. In spring their mode 

 of life is somewhat more regular. Among many specimens of ordinary size and weight 

 there occurred at times remarkably large representatives of the Asiatic grey-lag [Anser 

 cinereus rubrirostris 1 ). The weight varied between 7 and 12 pounds." 



According to Dr. Radde, between September and March the grey-lags keep in great 

 flocks on the Sivash, feeding on the steppe, and flying thence to the ice-free waters of the 

 Samir and Kara-sa ; but excessively deep snow compels them sometimes to abandon the 

 Sivash, as happened in the year 1853. 



It is very probable that the geese Kessler was told of, as wintering in the Crimea in 

 the Sheikhlar Gulf, belong partly to this species. Personally, although there is no direct 

 evidence of it, I have no doubt that, driven back by foul weather, cold and snow, the grey- 

 lags migrate from the Sivash and the Crimea generally to the southern shores of the Black 

 Sea, which must be crowded with other species also, especially the lesser white-fronted and 

 the red-breasted goose. 



It would be unpardonable not to quote here the excellent observations of Mr. A. O. 

 Hume on the winter life of grey-lag in India, the more so that they contain some details 

 which I have purposely omitted in order to avoid repetitions, of which even so the present 

 work has its share. I have ventured to somewhat abbreviate Mr. Hume's sketch. 



"This species rarely appears in Upper India before the last week in October, and 

 farther south the first week in November is, I think, the earliest time for their arrival. In 

 some years they are a good week or ten days later. Everywhere many, I believe, leave 

 the country during the first week in March, ... and I have shot them once as late as 

 April 10. . . . Where geese are much shot at, they feed in the meadows and fields exclus- 

 ively during the hours of darkness, but where comparatively unmolested, you will find them 



1 I have already stated above that size is no distinctive character of the Asiatic form, and that in Europe geese are met with of 

 greater size and weight than in Asia. 



