Germany, included in the Histories M the Birds of*Sihafc
country by Wolfe and Meyer, and by M. Brehm.
The most interesting recent notice of this species I have
been able to find, is that by M. Meiietries, in his Catalogue
Raisonné of objects in Zoology observed by the naturalists
attached to the Russian expedition to the vicinity of the
Caucasus and the frontiers of Persia. This gentleman mentions
that in 1828 a considerable- flock of this species appeared
at Leukoran, probably driven there by strong winds ; -they
were so exhausted by fatigue that they were caught by hand,
and many were preserved in captivity,-to- which they were
easily reconciled. They always kept together, and uttered
a gentle call-note when any one of their party separated from
the others, or when a bird of prey hovered over them : this was
the only sound that was heard. Of the food placed before
them they preferred green vegetables to grain, and drank often.
In the adult: bird the beak and the nail afè almosfiblack :
the irides * hazel'; between thè beak and ’Vhite
patch; round the eye, the top of the head, and down the
back of the neck, dark brownisli-black ; on .the' èar-cpverts
an angular patch of chestnut surrounded with white, ending
in a white streak passing downwards; upper surface of the
body and wings very dark brown, almost black ; wingrcoverts
edged with greyish-white; upper tail-coverts white ; primaries
and tail-feathers black; throat dark brown; neck and
upper part of the breast rich chestnut red, ending with a collar
of white:; lower part of the breast black ; belly, vent, and
under tail-coverts white; the flanks barred with dark brown ;
legs, toes, and their membranes, dark brown, almost black. •
The whole length twenty-one or twenty-two inches. From
the carpal joint to the end of the wing fourteen inches.
M. Temminck states that the plumage of the young bird
differs considerably from that of the adult, but that be; had not
been fortunate enough to obtain a specimen to describë from.
m&TAT0RES.. akatidm.
T H É E G Y P T IA N GOOSE.
Anefa Egyptiaccr, Egyptian 0Ws‘e}\ B ewick, Brit. Birds, vqI.' ii. p. 315.
A n s e r E g y p t ia c u s , ; y, : J enyns, IJrit.-VgjJ'.J?. 225. •
Chenalopex E g y p t i a c a 'bu^9,B-e^ xxk
Anser jtgyptiacus, Oxe'Egyptienne,' T emm. lUan. d Ornith. pt. iv. p. 523.
. I t is only/lately that the Egyptian Goose has been admitted
into the.histories and catalogues of our British Birds,
and even now exception's' are occasionally made to it, on the
ground that the specimens, though killed at large, or apparently
in a wilidi state, had probably escaped from the waters
of parks or pleasure grounds, .where they had been bred and
fostered on account of the beauty of their plumage. Their
appearance, however, thus at large, the feathers exhibiting no
g 2