The Geese. 
i33 
The habits of the present species do not differ from those of the Grey Lag-Goose, 
but Seebohm states that the note is somewhat different from that of the last-named 
species, and is more rapidly repeated and trumpet-like in tone. The nest is 
placed in a grassy hillock and consists of a hollow lined with down. The eggs 
vary in number from five to ten, and are of a dull yellowish-white colour; they 
measure from three to three-and-a-quarter inches in length. 
This species is recognisable by the colour of the bill, which 
has a black nail at the end of the upper mandible and an orange 
band across the middle of the bill. The feet are orange, and 
there is a distinct shade of ashy-grey on the wing-coverts. 
THE 
BEAN-GOOSE. 
(Aitser fabalis.) 
The White-fronted Goose. The Grey-lag Goose. The Bean Goose. The Pink-footed Goose. 
The Bean-Goose is only a winter visitor to our coasts and does not breed in 
Great Britain. Its nesting home is in Northern Europe from Scandinavia to the 
Valley of the Yenesei in Central Siberia, and in winter it is found visiting most 
of the countries of Europe. With the first sign of the break-up of winter the 
Bean-Goose appears in its breeding-grounds on the tundra of Northern Europe, and 
as soon as the young are hatched, the old birds commence to moult and are soon 
quite unable to fly. Numbers are then caught by the natives who prepare them for 
their winter food. A similar moult takes place with Ducks, which are for some time 
