5~8 THE FEATHERED TRIBES. 



of the Common Domestic Duck — and the eggs were productive, The aame two birds 

 were kept together in the following season, and the result was, more productive eggs. 

 The young birds were preserved, and kept bj' themselves, experimentally. 



" Besides various instances of single specimens of the Egyptian goose having been 

 obtained in this country, a flock of five were seen in the Fern Islands in April, iSIiO. A 

 small flock visited the Tweed in February, 18:^9. Three were shot at Campsio, near 

 Glaso-ow, in November, 1832. Mr. Wallace, of Douglas, sent me word that a flock of 

 nine were seen in the Isle of Man, in September, 1838. This species has been killed in 

 Ireland. Four were shot on the Severn, near Bridgewater, in February, 1840 ; two 

 were shot in Dorsetshire, in 1830." Colonel Ilawker mentions two killed in Norfolk, 

 and three at Longparish, in Hampshire, in the winter of 1823 ; and the next year 

 again, during some tremendous gales from the west, a flock of about eighty appeared 

 near the same place, when two more were killed. 



THE SPUR-AVINGEU GOOSE.* 



Bewick thus describes a specimen of this African bird, killed in Cornwall in .Tune, 

 J821 : — " The bill is reddish-yellow, with a jointed protuberance on the base of the 

 upper mandible. The upper part of the head and neck are dingy brown ; the auricidars 

 and sides of the throat are white, spotted with brown ; the lower part of the neck, sides 

 of the breast, and all the upper plumage appear black, but this colour is lost, 

 particularly in the scapulars and testials, which are most resplendently bronzed and 

 dossed with brilliant green, and most of the outer webs of the other feathers partake of 

 the same hue ; on the bend of the wing or wrist is placed a strong white bony spur ; 

 the whole of the edges of the wing, from the alula spuria to the elbows and shoidders, 

 are white, all the under parts the same. This beautiful bird is nearly of the bulk of 

 the wild goose, but its legs and toes are somewhat longer, and of a red or orange 

 yellow." 



This bird was presented to Mr. Bewick by Mr. Henry Mewburn, of St. Germain's ; 

 and the following particulars, supplied by him, are given by G. T. Fox, Esq., in his 

 " Synopsis of the Newcastle Museum :" — " When first seen, it was in a field adjoining 

 the clifts, at Port A^^rinklo, a small fishing-place about four miles from St. Germain's, 

 near which it remained for two or three days. Being several times disturbed by attempts 

 to shoot it, it came more inland, to a low-situated farm, called Pool, and there associated 

 with the common goose, but was wild, and immediately took wing on being approached. 

 Here it kept to and fro for a day or two, but being much disturbed, left, and came down 

 upon the shore of the St. Germain's river or estuary, where, the following day, the 20th 

 of June, 1821, it was shot by John Brickford, in a wheat-field at Sconnor, about a mile 

 from St. Germain's. 



" When killed, it was in the most perfect state, having only one shot in the head. 

 Somo gentlemen, who saw it the following day, requested him to let me have it, which ho 

 promised ; but, though ho knew I was a bird-stuffer, lie had a wife, who, from some strange 

 infatuation, thought she could stuff it ; but being soon convinced of her inabilit}', sho cut 

 off tho wings for dusters, and threw the skin away ; and it was not till throe weeks after- 

 wards that I heard of the circumstance, when I sent a servant, who brought it covered 

 with mud, the head torn oft', but luckily preserved, as also one wing, when I had it 

 washed, and put it together as well as I was able. The skin, in this state, was obligingly 

 forwarded to Newcastle, by Mr. Mewburn, for Mr. Bewick's use, from whence it passed 



Anas Giiiiilnnsis. — Tlcrwick. 



