GREY LAG- GOOSE. 69 
mentioned by any of the arctic expeditions, nor by 
Audubon.* 
This goose has been judged to be the stock of 
our domesticated breeds, though Mr. Yarrell hints 
that the white-fronted species may be also impli- 
cated. The ordinary stock has in general the 
greatest resemblance to the former, and a curious 
fact is stated by the author we have so frequently 
had occasion to quote, that a grey-lag gander would 
only mate with a tame goose, though females of 
both the bean and white-fronted species had been 
previously kept on the same waters. 
For two winters past we have been watching to 
procure a fresh specimen of this goose, but have been 
unsuccessful. The general colouring of the plumage 
is described as somewhat similar to the last, with 
which at a distance it may be easily confounded ; and 
even when examined near, without a knowledge of 
the differences, the species may not be at once de- 
tected. The larger size will always attract attention, 
the length reaching nearly three feet. The livid 
greyish pink of the feet and legs serve at once to 
mark it from the last ; while the flesh-coloured bill, 
with the nails on both mandibles, being white or 
pale-coloured, distinguishes it from all other allied 
birds yet found, as natives of Britain. 
The Pink-footed Goose, Axser brachyrhyn- 
chus, Baillon, 1633. — A riser phesnieopus, Bartlet in 
1839; Yarrell . — This species was evidently over- 
* “ Said to lie found in Northern Asia, China, and Japan.” 
Yarrell. 
