RED-BREASTED GOOSE. 139 



They feed on green vegetables in preference to grain, but, 

 on the principle of 'Hobson's choice/ put up with the latter 

 if no better be forthcoming. 



They utter their call-note to keep each other together, or 

 if alarmed by a bird of prey: Meyer expresses it by the 

 word 'tsjackwoy.' 



Male; weight, about three pounds; length, one foot eight, 

 nine, or ten inches; bill, very short and nearly black, with 

 a tinge of red; tooth, black. Iris, hazel; between the eye 

 and the base of the bill is a large whitish patch; the eye 

 is encircled with a line of dark brownish black. Forehead, 

 and head on the crown, dark brownish black; on the sides is 

 a patch of chesnut, speckled with black, and surrounded with 

 a narrow line of white, which runs down the neck, bordering 

 the black of the throat, and the back of the neck; neck on 

 the back and nape, dark brownish black. The neck in front 

 is rich orange chesnut red, bordered below with dashes of 

 white. Chin and throat, dark brownish black; breast above, 

 rich orange chesnut red, beneath which runs a narrow white 

 band, and a narrow black one, in a festooned shape; on the 

 middle and sides black, some of the feathers bordered with 

 white; below white, with some waves of dusky brown; back, 

 very dark blackish brown. 



The wings expand to the width of three feet ten inches. 

 Greater wing coverts, dusky black, margined with white; 

 lesser wing coverts, dusky black, edged with greyish white, 

 forming two bars across the wing; primaries, black; secondaries, 

 also black. Tail, black, tipped with white; upper tail coverts, 

 white; under tail coverts, also white. Legs and toes, dark 

 brownish black, with a tinge of red. Webs, dark brownish 

 black. 



