ANATID5I. 467 



Bridgwater) up to the present time.* There have 

 been two escapes here some years ago which I know 

 of; one from my father's pond and one from Mr. 

 Esdaile's at Cotheleston, at both of which places the 

 Geese hred. This hird has also occurred in both 

 the neighbouring counties of Devon and Dorset. 



According to Meyer, the food of the Egyptian 

 Goose consists of herbage, barley, oats, turnips, 

 carrots and cabbages, also of the roots of aquatic 

 plants, worms and snails ; they are very fond also of 

 grass and eat it greedily, so much so that I remember 

 the farmer who rented the fields near the pond at 

 Cotheleston looking at these Geese eating his grass 

 and exclaiming with considerable indignation, " Drat 

 them Geese, three on 'em do eat as much as a 

 sheep." I believe he eventually succeeded in per- 

 suading his landlord to get rid of the Geese. 



Meyer says that in Africa, the native country of 

 these birds, the nest is invariably placed near the 

 water, on the edge of such springy places as occur 

 in the sandy dry localities ; and that it has also been 

 found on the top of matted water-plants, the floating 

 of which was prevented by the long fibres that are 

 connected with the bottom. The nest is made of 



* The occurrence of two of these birds, one on the river 

 Parret, near Bridgwater ; and the other near Glastonbury 

 at the end of March, 1864, is recorded by myself in the 

 ' Zoologist ' for that year. 



