39^ RED-BREASTED GOOSE. 



Yenesei, along the banks of which he afterwards saw adults with their 

 broods ; while on the Boganida Dr. von Middendorff obtained the 

 first authenticated eggs. As a straggler this species has occurred as 

 far east as Irkutsk, but its main line of migration in autumn 

 appears to be in a south-westerly direction, to the Caspian. There, 

 according to Dr. Radde, large numbers are often caught in nets or 

 shot on some grassy islands near the south-western shore, during 

 the winter. The ancient Egyptians were well acquainted with this 

 handsome Goose, for it is accurately portrayed in colours on the 

 Meydoun slab already mentioned (p. 38S), and repeatedly, ac- 

 cording to Mr. E. C. Taylor, on the ' tombs of the kings ' at 

 Thebes. Lord Lilford has a specimen labelled by the late 

 Mr. S. Stafford Allen, "Alexandria, December 2nd 1874," and 

 skins, said to be from Algeria, were offered for sale in 1884. 

 Three examples have been obtained in Italy, five or six in 

 France, several in Holland, and a few in Northern Germany, Den- 

 mark, and Sweden ; while in Russia the bird is said to visit Arch- 

 angel in spring and to pass through the Central Provinces, in small 

 numbers, on its way to the Caspian. 



An egg procured by Mr. Seebohm on July ist is of a dull 

 creamy-white, and measures 27 by i"8 in. The call-note may be 

 syllabled as s/iak-voy, whence the local name at Obdorsk, according 

 to Dr. Finsch. The food consists of grass and green vegetables, and 

 water is frequently taken. In a wild state this species is exceed- 

 ingly gregarious, while in confinement it is very tame and sociable ; 

 and a female, which lived in the Gardens of the Zoological Society 

 from 1858 to 1870, paired with a Brent Goose. Its skin, now pre- 

 served in the British Museum, shows conclusively that the plumage 

 is quite as brilliant in this sex as in the male, though the contrary has 

 been stated. 



The adult has a white patch in front of the eye ; the crown, 

 throat, hind-neck, and lower part of the breast, black, bordered by 

 narrow lines of white ; ear-patches and breast rich chestnut ; upper 

 parts almost black, with greyish-white edges to the wing-coverts ; 

 tail black ; belly white, barred with black on the flanks ; bill, legs 

 and feet very dark brown. Length 21-22 in. ; wing 14-5 in. In 

 the young bird the ear-patch is whitish with rufous 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 the tail- 

 coverts, which are white. 



