ANATIDZ. 467 
Bridgwater) up to the present time.* There have 
been two escapes here some years ago which I know 
of; one from my father’s pond and one from Mr. 
Esdaile’s at Cotheleston, at both of which places the 
Geese bred. ‘This bird has also occurred in both 
the neighbouring counties of Devon and Dorset. 
According to Meyer, the food of the Egyptian 
Goose consists of herbage, barley, oats, turnips, 
carrots and cabbages, also of the roots of aquatic 
plants, worms and snails; they are very fond also of 
grass and eat it greedily, so much so that I remember 
the farmer who rented the fields near the pond at 
Cotheleston looking at these Geese eating his grass 
and exclaiming with considerable indignation, “ Drat 
them Geese, three on ’em do eat as much as a 
sheep.” I believe he eventually succeeded in per- 
suading his landlord to get rid of the Geese. 
Meyer says that in Africa, the native country of 
these birds, the nest 1s invariably placed near the 
water, on the edge of such springy places as occur 
in the sandy dry localities ; and that it bas also been 
found on the top of matted water-plants, the floating 
of which was prevented by the long fibres that are 
connected with the bottom. ‘The nest is made of 
* The occurrence of two of these birds, one on the river 
Parret, near Bridgwater; and the other near Glastonbury 
at the end of March, 1864, is recorded by myself in the 
‘ Zoologist’ for that year. 
