466 BIRDS OF =GMERSETSHIRE. 
under tail-coverts and hinder part of the flanks 
white; legs, toes, webs and claws black. This de- 
scription is taken from a young bird of the year, 
shot at Exmouth during the first week in December. 
Younger birds have no white band on the neck, and 
in older birds the feathers on the upper parts are 
darker and not so broadly edged with dirty white. 
The eggs are said to be of a greyish white 
colour. 
EGYPTIAN Goost, Anser egyptiacus. Whether 
this beautiful Goose really visits this country in a 
perfectly wild state and of its own free will may 
appear doubtful, but so many specimens have from 
time to time occurred, both in this and many other 
counties, that it is now considered British, and 
included in all works upon British Birds: Yarrell, 
for instance, mentions a flock of eighty having been 
seen in Hampshire, during some tremendous gales 
from the West, as long ago as the year 1824, and 
others, but in smaller numbers, in 1823. I should 
very much doubt if sufficient numbers had been 
domesticated in this country at that time to allow of 
such a numerous flock being found at large. Its 
head-quarters seem to be Northern Africa and parts 
of the Mediterranean. 
As far as our own county is concerned, specimens 
have occurred in various parts of it from time to 
time since the year 1840 (in the February of which 
year Yarrell says four were shot on the Severn near 
