PINK-FOOTED GOOSE. 161 



nostrils to the base, black, the intermediate space pink ; 

 the irides dark brown; head and neck dark ash brown, 

 the colour becoming lighter towards the lower part of the 

 neck ; back, wing-coverts, and tertials, brownish grey, 

 edged and tipped with dull white ; 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, white ; 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 is 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 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 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 numbers 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." 



VOL. III. 



