639 



CHENALOPEX ^EGYPTIACUS. THE EGYPTIAN 

 FOX-GOOSE. 



EGYPTIAN GOOSE. 



Anas iEgyptiaca. Linn. Syst. Nat. I. 197. 



Oie iEgyptienne. Anser iEgyptiacus. Temm. Man. d'Orn. II. 523. 

 Anser iEgyptiacus. Egyptian Goose. Jen. Brit. Vert. An. 225. 

 Chenalopex iEgyptiaca. Bonap. Comp. List, 56. 



About twenty-eight inches long ; with a prominent margin 

 at the base of the upper mandible, and a bare knob on the 

 ivings ; the bill red ; the unguis and part of the tipper man- 

 dible black ; a roundish space about the eye light chestnut-red ; 

 the wing-coverts white ; the secondary coverts with a transverse 

 black band near the end ; the lower parts cream-coloured, with 

 a large chestnut-red patch on the breast. 



Male in Winter. — This beautiful bird is easily distin- 

 guishable from any British species of the Goose family, on 

 account of its more gaudy plumage, in the colouring of which 

 it somewhat resembles the Shiel Duck, the prominence at the 

 base of its upper mandible, and the obtuse bare knobs at the 

 flexure of the wings. In its general appearance it differs 

 very little from the Geese, properly so called, and is about 

 equal in size to the White-faced Bernicle. The body is full ; 

 the neck rather long, and somewhat slender ; the head oblong, 

 compressed. 



The bill is a little shorter than the head, stout, sub- 

 conical, of nearly equal breadth throughout, being a little 

 narrowed toward the end ; the upper mandible with a promi- 

 nent basal margin, the dorsal line sloping, a little concave 

 between the nostrils and the unguis, which is roundish, at 

 the base angular, very convex, and much decurved, the sides 



