PINK-FOOTED GOOSE. 67 



lighter towards the lower part of the neck ; back, wing- 

 coverts and tertials, brownish-grey, edged and tipped with 

 dull Avhite ; primary quill-feathers lead-grey, with white 

 shafts ; the secondaries still darker, almost bluish-black ; 

 rump greyish ash colour ; upper tail-coverts white ; tail- 

 feathers grey, edged and tipped with white ; neck in front, 

 breast, and belly, pale ash-brown, with lighter coloured 

 edges ; sides, flanks, and thighs, grey, broadly tipped with 

 pale brown ; vent, under tail-coverts, and under surface of 

 the tail-feathers Avhite ; legs, toes, and membranes pink, 

 tinged with vermilion, in colour like those of the Egyptian 

 Goose ; the claws black ; the hind toe short ; the membranes 

 of the feet thick and fleshy. 



The whole length of an adult male twenty-eight inches. 

 From the carpal joint to the end of the second quill -feather, 

 which is rather the longest in the wing, seventeen inches and 

 and a half; the carpal joint of the wing furnished with the 

 usual hard knob ; the wings when closed reach an inch or 

 more beyond the end of the tail. 



In the recently published September number of the Annals 

 and Magazine of Natural History, it is stated in a paper on the 

 Zoology of the outer Hebrides by Mr. J. Macgillivray, " that 

 the Pink-footed or Short-billed Goose breeds in great num- 

 bers in the small islands of the Sound of Harris, as well as 

 those of the interior of North Uist. This bird was seen in 

 flocks so late as the beginning of May, was observed in pairs 

 among the islands in the Sound about the middle of the 

 month, and had the young fully fledged and strong upon the 

 wing about the end of July ; it had again collected into 

 flocks by the beginning of August, for late in the night of 

 the 8th of that month, as I was riding in great haste to over- 

 take the ferry-boat for Berneray, while crossing the sandy 

 margin of a shallow pool, I came suddenly upon a flock of 

 geese amounting to several hundreds." 



F 2 



