The Zoologist— July, 18G7. 831 



the gander and laying. The other gander several times essayed to form a matrimonial 

 alliance with a female hernicle, but the usual indisposition to breed of the latter 

 rendered his attentions futile : on one occasion, however, he succeeded in taking the 

 bernicle at a disadvantage, and effected his purpose. In both ganders the generative 

 apparatus is largely developed. — Charles W. Devis ; Manchester. 



Egyptian Goose at Barnstaple. — I have lately had sent to me from Barnstaple an 

 Egyptian goose, which was shot on the estuary of the River Taw, on the 29th of April : 

 I received it in the flesh. It proved to be a young male, whether in the plumage of 

 the end of the first or second year I cannot determine. 1 am equally unable to pro- 

 nounce upon its being a wild bird or a straggler from some ornamental water. The 

 history of many specimens of this goose is very doubtful. It is a very restless bird, 

 one which often takes long flights from ponds on which it is kept as an ornament. I 

 was staying last autumn at Budleigh Salterton. Every evening a flock of Egyptian 

 geese used to fly down from Lady Kolle's park, a mile or two off, to the mouth of the 

 Otter, to feed. They had then all the appearance of being wild geese. As they flew 

 high over one's head, or as they settled down on their feeding-ground, any one might 

 well be excused for not recognizing them as tame birds that had strayed away from 

 their waters in a neighbouring park. An enthusiastic bird-collector who killed one of 

 them might readily have believed that he had obtained a genuine specimen of a rare 

 straggler. Supposing any of the birds had wandered to the estuary of the Exe, a few 

 miles to the westward, they might there have been regarded with an easy conscience as 

 genuine strangers. I know of no ornamental waters in North Devon where this hand- 

 some goose is kept. My bird, if a park-escape, must have come from some distance. He 

 was in very poor condition, but I do not regard this fact as shedding any light upon his 

 origin. I was struck when I set him up by his apparent value to the disciples of Darwin. 

 If any two species are types of a divergence from a common species, Auser Egyptiacus 

 and A. gambensis might well be brought forward as such. In the latter the wings have 

 the developed spur which is rudimentary in the wings of the former. Both species have 

 a close correspondence in the general tints of their plumage; both have a long tarsus 

 and an erect position of body ; both are conspicuous for the beautiful metallic-green 

 colour of the primary and secondary wing-feathers; while in A. gambensis the upper 

 mandible possesses a fully developed shield-like knob (scutellum), which is less strongly 

 marked in A. Egyptiacus. Of course hundreds of similar pairs might be selected out 

 of all orders of birds, whether they prove anything is a deep and difficult matter.— 

 M. A. Mathew ; Weston-super-Mare, May 4, 1867. 



Egyptian Goose near Northampton. — One of these rare visitors was shot on the 

 24th of May, at Dollington, a village about a mile off. It was grazing near the fish- 

 ponds, within a hundred yards of the Hall. The keeper who shot it says he was in 

 considerable doubt whether to fire or not, and twice took his gun from his shoulder, as 

 he thought it was a tame bird. I have seen it, and find there is no doubt about the 

 species. — Henry P. Hensman ; Northampton. 



Correction of an Error. — At Zool. 671, lines 1, 2 and 3, there is a mistake in the 

 composition : read " the blackheaded and herring gulls," in saying that the b/ackheaded 

 was far more plentiful than the common gull. The whole sentence is utterly ungram- 

 maiical, but still this is what it should have been. There are errors at pages 671 and 

 676, lines 4 and II, from the bottom respectively : read there " bill " for " bird," and 

 " rest " for " nest."— W. Vincent Legge ; Woolwich, April 24, 1867. 



