GOOSANDEB. 107 



as thirty have been successively laid: their colour a uniform 

 buff white or cream yellow. 



The female has been seen to carry her young on her back, 

 in the same way as described of the Swan. She leads them 

 to the water as soon as they are hatched, or carries them 

 thither in her bill if the nest has been built in the hollow 

 of a tree, and at once commences their education. 



The males appear to leave the females when the latter 

 have begun to sit, and do not rejoin them till the summer 

 is over: while absent they are only accompanied by one or 

 two females, if any. 



Male; weight, about four pounds; length, two feet two 

 inches and a half to two feet three or four inches. The bill, 

 which is long and rather slender, serrated on the sides, and 

 hooked at the end, is bright red, the upper mandible edged 

 with black, the tooth horn-colour; iris, carmine red. Crest, 

 towards the back of the head, the feathers on the crown 

 being long and loose, and neck on the upper part, behind, 

 and nape, black, glossed with green; sides of the head, chin, 

 and throat, dull black. When this bird is alive the breast 

 on the upper part is tinged with a beautiful roseate hue; 

 when this fades the colour remains of a rather pale, though 

 decided buff salmon-colour; the remainder of the breast is 

 white, but the sides on the extreme lower part are waved 

 with grey and white. Back on the upper part, fine glossy 

 black, on the lower part brownish grey. 



The wings in breadth reach to three feet two inches; the 

 upper border of the wing is black; greater wing coverts, 

 grey, with some white, and tipped with rich buff orange; 

 lesser wing coverts, white; primaries, dusky velvet black, 

 with ash-colour on the inner webs of some of the inside 

 ones; secondaries, white, bordered narrowly with greenish 

 black on the outer webs; tertiaries, also white, bordered 

 narrowly with dusky velvet black. The tail is dark bluish 

 grey, the shafts dusky: it consists of eighteen feathers; 

 upper tail coverts, brownish grey. The legs, which are 

 placed far back, and the toes, rich orange; webs, darker 

 orange red. 



The female is not so large as the male. Bill, dull purple 

 red on the sides, the remainder of both mandibles black, 

 the edges finely serrated; iris, purple red. The crest is long 

 and pendant. Head, crown, and neck on the upper part, 

 ferruginous, or pale reddish brown, the former darker than 



