EGYPTIAN GOOSE. 141 



1795. In Sussex, an Egyptian Goose was shot on the harbour 

 at Shoreham, on the 5th. of January, 1848; another in the 

 parish of Shermanbury, on the llth. of the same month; 

 one at Pevensey, in January, 1850; one also near Seaford. 

 In Norfolk, one on Ormesby Broad, on the llth. of March, 

 1848, and a second a few days afterwards; two others, a 

 male and a female off Yarmouth, on the 28th of April, 1851; 

 Colonel Hawker refers to two shot in the same county. One 

 on Derwent Lake, in Westmoreland, on the 2nd. of the following 

 May. In Cambridgeshire, one in Fulbourn Fields, the middle 

 of September, 1852. In Dorsetshire, two in the year 1836. 

 In Hampshire, Colonel Hawker speaks of three having been 

 killed at Longparish, in the winter of 1823, and of a flock 

 of eighty appearing near the same place the following year, 

 during a tremendous gale from the west, when two more 

 were obtained. In Northumberland, five were seen on the 

 Fern Islands, in the month of April, 1830. In Somersetshire, 

 four were shot on the Severn, near Bridgewater, in February, 

 1840. 



In the Isle of Man, nine were seen together, in September, 

 1838. 



In Ireland the species has also been met with. 



In Scotland, three were shot at Campsie, near Glasgow, in 

 November, 1832. A small flock were also noticed on the River 

 Tweed, in the month of February, 1839. 



In the garden of the Zoological Society, an Egyptian Goose 

 paired, in 1838, with a drake of the common domestic species; 

 also in 1839. Young birds were hatched both years. 



These birds appear to be of a wild and wary nature, and 

 also, it is said, of a quarrelsome disposition; they are, however, 

 readily kept in a half-domesticated state. 



They dive, on occasion, with extraordinary speed, assisting 

 themselves, no doubt, by the 'remigium alarum,' and can also 

 run in a tolerably quick manner. Meyer says, 'On the water 

 it swims apparently with great exertion, having its fore 

 parts very low in the water, and its hinder part very much 

 elevated; to such an extent, that when swimming, its knees 

 are invariably above that element. When the Egyptian Goose 

 is pursued, it does not take to the water, unless as a means 

 of crossing over to the opposite shore, but it runs for the 

 shelter of some bush or thicket of long herbage, which proves 

 the fact of its being more a land than a water inhabitant. 



On the wing the Egyptian Goose is strong, and easily to 





