RED-BREASTED GOOSE. 285- 



land in 1858 (' List of Animals,' p. 419), lived many years 

 in the Gardens of the Zoological Society, and paired with 

 a male Brent, but did not actually breed (P. Z. S. 1880, 

 p. 502). This beautiful and tame bird was killed by a savage 

 Swan in 1870. Its remains are preserved in the British 

 Museum ; and its plumage is fully equal in beauty to that 

 of the finest male bird, thus clearly proving that externally 

 the sexes are alike ; a fact which has been doubted. 



In the adult bird the beak and the nail are almost black ; 

 the irides hazel ; between the beak and the eye a white 

 patch ; round the eye, the top of the head, and down the 

 back of the neck, black ; on the ear-coverts 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 ; wing-coverts edged with 

 greyish-white ; upper tail-coverts white ; primaries black, 

 the first about equal in length to the second, and longer than 

 the third ; tail-feathers black ; throat black ; neck and upper 

 part of the breast rich chestnut red, ending with a collar of 

 white : low- er part of the breast black ; belly, vent, and 

 under tail-coverts white ; the flanks barred with black ; 

 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. 



In the immature bird the auricular patch is whitish with 

 some rufous-brown in the centre ; the chest is merely tinged 

 with reddish ; and the rest of the upper and under parts are 

 dusky-brown, except the abdomen and tail-coverts, which are 

 white. 



