26> 



BRITISH BIRDS. 



THE EGYPTIAN GOOSE. 



(. I riser ^Egyptiacus^ Temm. Oic Egyptienne, 

 Temm.) 



LENGTH two feet two inches and rive-eighths, 

 breadth four feet four inches, weight six pounds. 

 The bill is reddish, and, including a protuberance 

 on the base of the upper mandible, is two inches in 

 length; nail black, nostrils dusky, irides pale yel- 

 low; a dark reddish chesnut patch surrounds the 

 eyes and the base of the bill; the crown of the 

 head and the cheeks are of a dull dirty w^hite, 

 mixed with indistinct spots of rusty brown: the 

 rest of the head, from the nape downwards over the 

 whole neck, is of a dingy chesnut, mixed and 

 tipped with a lighter colour: on the breast is a 

 reddish chesnut patch, the upper part of which, 



