74 Geese of Europe and Asia 



Owing to this state of affairs, the data on the range and habits of the geese of the 

 group Melanonyx are so confused that, in the majority of cases, it is impossible to refer 

 them with certainty to any particular species ; and accordingly they are given here only in 

 their most general features, and have been almost entirely omitted in the descriptions of the 

 species. 



In the main, bean-geese are natives of the Far North, and only in Siberia (chiefly 

 eastern) does the region of their nidification descend considerably lower than in more 

 westerly countries. This, perhaps, is explained partly by the severity of the Siberian climate, 

 and partly by the fact that in Europe these geese have been driven back northwards by man 

 or, more probably, by the reduction, due to cultivation, of free and suitable spaces, so neces- 

 sary for such shy birds. " The bean-goose," writes Professor Menzbier, " is an extremely 

 cautious bird, and knows well how to avail itself of its strong and rapid flight, as also its 

 skill in swimming and diving, to escape danger." This is perfectly true, as appears from 

 the following observations on the extraordinary capacity of this goose for diving. 



Once, during the autumn migration, on one of the lakes in Finland (Vyborg Govern- 

 ment), I succeeded in knocking over with a charge of slugs a goose of this species from a 

 flock flying high overhead. Having fallen with a loud cackle in a somewhat inclined direction, 

 the bird, evidently only slightly touched in the wing, splashed heavily against the surface of 

 the water some 70 paces from my boat and at once dived. A few seconds later it came up 

 again, at not less than 200 paces ; in other words, it only required a few seconds to swim this 

 distance under water. Having dived again, it reappeared on the shore of the lake, 400 

 paces off, and hid in the sedge. All this happened with such rapidity that, had I not been 

 myself the cause and witness of the occurrence, I should never have conceived the possibility 

 of such rapid motion under water ; for this goose surpassed all I had hitherto seen of the 

 kind among waterfowl. Once, indeed, I remember a cormorant, which I had wounded, 

 behave in a somewhat similar manner under water, eventually escaping as quickly as did 

 this goose. 



As to the wariness of the geese of the group Melanonyx, I have come to the con- 

 clusion that all geese without distinction are equally wary, once they have recognised danger, 

 despite the fact that they are comparatively confiding before making acquaintance with man. 



In a later passage on this goose, Professor Menzbier remarks that : " Its voice hardly 

 differs from that of the grey-lag, and the bird makes use of it by imparting to its ordinary 

 cry various modulations according to the different exigencies of its life." 



Personally, I must own to being familiar in this group only with the note of M. 

 arvensis, which indeed varies greatly according to circumstances. Thus the usual gagd-gagd 

 or nasal gonk-gdnk-gdnk-khdnk is sometimes uttered only once as a sonorous, deep khonk, 

 and is very different when uttered by the bird on the wing or when the flock is sitting on 

 the water. The quiet cackle again differs from the alarm-note ; and the low chatter of a 

 peaceful flock has a character of its own. Although I do not doubt that considerable differ- 

 ences in the cries of different species of this group of geese exist, I deny the possibility of 

 expressing in letters any one of these sounds. Personally, I can distinguish without fail the 

 cackle of a flock of white-fronted geese from that of a flock of M. arvensis, and any observant 

 fowler can of course do the same ; but no one, I think, is able to express in words the differ- 

 ences of these sounds. 



As regards the food of the bean-geese, Professor Menzbier writes that they are 



