84 THE BARRED-HEADED GOOSE. 
Compared with the Grey Lags, this species is far more essen- 
tially a river, or very large lake bird. I do not inean to say 
that you never find them in swamps or moderate-sized broads ; 
on the contrary, I have repeatedly seen them in such, but I mean 
that for one that you meet with in these, you will meet with 
hundreds on or near the banks of rivers. 
Very few people have any idea of the truly countless myriads 
of this species that visit Upper India, because very few people, 
now-a-days, boat steadily along our larger rivers. Indeed, they 
rarely see these except in the neighbourhood of some large 
town, or where they are crossed by some regular line of traffic, 
and of course in such places few Geese are to be seen. 
In alength of ten miles on the Jumna, immediately below its 
junction with the Chambal at Bhurey, I have seen more than ten 
thousand Geese ina morning. Large flocks of from one to five 
hundred or more on one or other bank, or on some sandbank, 
every quarter of a mile at least. One must boat steadily down 
one of the larger rivers in the Punjab or the North-West Pro- 
vinces in December, January, or February, in order to realize 
the vastness of the multitudes of the Barred-headed Geese that 
yearly visit us. 
Their habits are similar tothose of the Grey Lags. Where 
frequently disturbed, they feed inland only at night ; where rarely 
molested, they will be found feeding up to eight or nine in the 
morning and again long before sunset. The day, or at all 
events the warmer hours of this, they pass by the water’s side. 
They feed in fields, preferentially in those in the immediate 
neighbourhood of the larger rivers, browsing on the young wheat 
or waddling awkwardly amongst the heavy clods, amidst which 
the gram grows, to devour the young shoots, or later the ripen- 
ing pods of this vetch. All vetches, lentils, grain, tender grasses, 
and herbs, seem equally to suit their taste, and so long as these 
are available they eat nothing else, and by the end of December 
(thin and poor as they usually are when they first arrive), they 
are generally in fine condition. 
All I said as to the edibility of the Crane and the Grey Goose 
applies equally to this species. You will find them good or bad 
eating according to their condition and antecedents. Here, too, 
you should always select for the table the young birds, which, 
though quite fat, do not weigh above 5 Ibs. at the outside. 
As for shooting, they afford any guantzty of this when attack- 
ed by water in the manner which I have fully explained 
when treating of the Grey Lag. I have bagged 44 of this 
species, besides Grey Lags, Cranes, Ducks, &c., in a single day on 
the Jumna just below its junction with the Chambal. But the 
guality of the sport afforded is a matter of opinion, and some 
soon come to considerit monotonous. To me this river shooting 
is alwaysa delight. I float luxuriously over the glittering water 
fanned by the fresh cool breeze, always blowing along the valleys 
