GEESE 2091 



English wild goose. The spur-winged goose inhabits tropical Africa, ranging from 

 Senegambia southward to the Transvaal and Zambezia, being replaced in Abyssinia 

 and the adjacent regions by Riippell's spur-winged goose (P. rueppelli). A few 

 stragglers have been observed in Britain. In the Sudan these birds are generally 

 found in small parties, which for a considerable part of the year frequent the 

 banks of rivers, although during the molting time, when unable to fly, they seek 

 the retirement and shelter of reedy marshes and swamps; in the breeding season 

 the flocks divide up into pairs. Farther south, according to Messrs. Nicholls and 

 Eglington, they frequent the reedy margins of L,ake Ngami and the Chobe and 

 Zambezi rivers, where they breed in immense numbers. When, however, the 

 smaller water courses and pools are filled with water, these birds desert the impene- 

 trable swamps, to wander in pairs over the country. " The broods usually num- 

 ber from eight to twelve, the old birds remaining with their progeny for the 

 remainder of the season following the nesting. They do not feed in the day, but 

 may be then observed in the open water, or standing motionless on some dry bank, 

 rocky prominence, or island. When on the wing, they continuously utter a low, 

 hissing noise, and shortly after sundown, just before darkness sets in, leave their 

 day resorts and fly to the feeding ground, which is generally some very shallow 

 pass or swamp overgrown with grass, and here they spend the night in search of 

 leeches and water animalculse. " The nest is a huge structure of reeds and flags, 

 generally built among the reeds, but occasionally in a low bush; and to the north- 

 ward the number of eggs is said to be much less than that above mentioned. Dur- 

 ing the night they generally fly low; and, in accordance with the length of their legs, 

 they walk less awkwardly than the true geese. Shy and wary, as well as endowed 

 with great vitality, these birds are difficult to kill, and the flesh of the old ones is 

 rank and tough. They are easily tamed and thrive in confinement, although their 

 disposition is pugnacious. 



A still more peculiar form than the last is the half-webbed or pied 

 Half-Webbed , A , . , . . ... .. . A . - 



goose (Anseranas melanoleucas) of Australia, in which the front toes 



are only webbed at the base, and the hind one is very long and not 

 raised above their level, and furnished with a large claw. The lores are naked, and 

 the metatarsus is reticulate and longer than the third toe. This remarkable bird, 

 which is about the size of the brent goose, constitutes a distinct subfamily by itself, 

 and has a dull black and white plumage, and a hooked beak, with a large, warty, 

 comb-like prominence on the front of the head. The claws are long and sharp, 

 and the whole foot is adapted for perching. In accordance with this structure, 

 these birds sit for hours on the branches of the Australian tea trees, and but seldom 

 enter the water. Their cry is loud and hoarse, but quite unlike that of the com- 

 mon goose; and the windpipe is folded on itself, although on the side of, instead of 

 within, the breastbone, as in the swans. 



The large cereopsis goose ( Cereopsis nov<z-hollandiez} of New Zealand 



and Tasmania is the sole-existing representative of another subfamily 



characterized by the extreme shortness of the beak, which is covered 



at the base with a waxy skin, and has its extremity bent down and truncated so as 



to approximate in appearance to that of a fowl. The body is very stoutly built and 



