84 ANATID.E. 



marks of confinement, occurs so frequently, in so many dif- 

 ferent localities, and more particularly in such numbers, a 

 flock of about eighty having been seen together on one occa- 

 sion in Hampshire ; these facts, in conjunction with the 

 statement of M. Temminck, that he had not admitted it 

 among the Birds of Europe in his Manual, till he had ascer- 

 tained to a certainty the appearance of individuals in a wild 

 state in several parts of southern Europe, seem to justify re- 

 cording it also among the occasional visiters to this country. 

 M. Temminck says this species inhabits the whole of Africa 

 from the north to the middle ; it is found also in Turkey, 

 visits the mouths of the Danube, and occasionally the islands 

 of the Grecian Archipelago ; has been killed in Sicily, and it is 

 said, also, in several parts of Germany. M. Selys-Loncliamps 

 sent him word that a specimen had been killed upon the 

 Mcuse, and another at Liege. 



One point of interest must not be omitted. Our Egyjitian 

 Goose is the Vulpanser of the ancients. On this subject Mr. 

 Salt, the Egyptian traveller, in his Essay on the Phonetic 

 System of Hieroglyphics, observes, " Horus Apollo says, Fi- 

 lium volentes significare vulpanserem pingunt,and adds a reason 

 for it that holds good to this day — that the old geese stay 

 with their young in the most imminent danger, at the risk 

 of their own lives, which I have myself frequently witnessed. 

 Vulpanser is the Goose of the Nile, and wherever this Goose 

 is represented on the walls of the temples in colours, the re- 

 semblance may be clearly traced." Page 18, note. 



The breeding habits of this bird, in a wild state, are, I 

 believe, but little known : they hatch and rear their young 

 without difficulty in confinement, and have bred several sea- 

 sons in succession in the gardens of the Zoological Society. 

 The eggs are of a dull white, tinged with buff colour, two 

 inches nine lines in length, by two inches in breadth. The 

 editor of the Naturalist says, " the Egyptian Goose quacks 



