Egyptian Goose < 



Canada Goose 



50 



breed), yet these birds shovved no inclination to breed, although they 

 were perfectly healthy, and assumed the breeding dress at the proper 

 season. As these birds have the power of suppressing and checking 

 their desires \vhen not in a perfect statė of nature, I cannot imagine 

 or think it probable that they \vould associate and breed, in a statė 

 of nature, Avith species distinct from themselves, possessing as they 

 do the power of travelling over the globė if necessary to find a mate 

 of its own species. Again, the fact of three specimens having been 

 obtained at distant periods, agreeing in internal as well as external 

 characters, is I think sufficient to prevent any one entertaining such 

 an opinion. 



List of Hybrids. 



THooper Swan. 

 Į Chinese Goose. 



Ccmmon Goose. ... <^ Canada Goose. 



Bernacle Goose. 



_White-frouted Goose. 



Chinese Goose. 



Spur-'ivinged Goose. 



Common Duck. 



f Chinese Goose. 



[Bernacle Goose. 



Bean Goose Pink-footed Goose. 



White-fronted Goose Bernacle Goose. 



TMuscovy Duck. 

 Shelldrake. 



Common Duck . . <| Pintail Duck. 



Wigeon. 

 Į^Egyptian Goose. 



Shoveller Garganey Teal. 



Pintail Wigeon. 



5. NOTES ON SOME RARE BiRDS OF NeW ZeALAND AXD AuSTRALIA. 



By Mr. f. Strange, in a letter to Johx Gould, Esq., F. R. S. etc. 



" Strigops habroptilūs, g. r. Gray. — The Ka-ka-po, or Night 

 Parrot of the New Zealanders, is an inhabitant of the western side of 

 the Middle island, and likę the Kiici-kitvi or Apteryx is strictly noc- 

 turnal in its habits, and never leaves its retreat during the day ; its 

 usual place of resort consists of burrows, formed by itself, beueath 

 the roots of large trees or under immense pieces of rock, wlience they 

 cannot, even by the natives, be easily dug out. Its food consists of 

 fem-roots, which it digs up w'ith its bill, and the outer covering of 

 the leaves of flax, which it obtains by dravving the leaves between the 

 mandibles and leaving the flax behind. They are not gregarious, 

 more than t\vo never being found together, except a pair of young 

 ones, \vhich appear to stop with the old birds until they have attained 

 the size of their pcirents. This is one of the birds the natives set 

 great store by, the head being cut ofF, strung by the nostrils, aud 



