THE EGYPTIAN GOOSE 



Chenalopex aegyptiacus 



Centre of head light brown ; upper part of throat and 

 cheeks white, shading into brown ; forehead, round the eye, 

 and neck, a chestnut bright brown ; upper parts of back, 

 chest, and flanks, reddish buff, with dusky bars; large 

 wing -feathers black; a metallic green bar crosses wing; 

 lower half of back and tail black ; a deep chocolate patch 

 on centre of breast; centre of abdomen white; under -tail 

 coverts buff; legs, dark pink; beak, dull flesh colour; eyes 

 brown. Total length, 26 inches. 



The Egyptian Goose is a handsomely coloured 

 bird, and when seen sunning itself on some sand- 

 bank it makes a brilliant picture. It is a real native 

 of the Nile, and breeds in the early spring — March 

 and April ; and sportsmen's records tell of its being 

 a quite shootable bird in the first weeks of May. 

 In 1907, only a quarter of a mile from the busiest 

 part of Luxor, there might have been seen daily a 

 charming little flotilla of the parents and four 

 young ones swimming about round the promontory 

 of land that there juts out. They had nested in 

 the cultivation that at that point comes down to 

 the very water's edge. This is the ideal position 

 they love, as they can, on the approach of danger, 

 slip at once into the water, where they are 



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