446 THE ZOOLOGISY. 
REMARKS ON THE BREEDING OF CERTAIN 
WATER-FOWL IN CONFINEMENT. 
By Croic. Smita. 
Boru my father and myself having for a good many years 
kept ornamental water-fowl on the pond here, and having been 
tolerably successful in getting them to breed, I think a few notes 
on the various species which have bred here may be interesting. 
My experience, though extending over a good many years, has 
been far less than that of Mr. Sclater, who lately published in the 
‘Proceedings of the Zoological Society,’ a paper on the breeding 
of various species of Anatide in the Zoological Gardens, Regent’s 
Park. I propose, however, to give the names of the various 
ducks and gulls which within my memory have been kept and 
bred in this pond, either in my father’s time or my own, and to 
add a few notes. 
Taking the same order with the Anatide which Mr. Sclater 
has done, I begin with the Egyptian Goose, Chenalopex egyptiaca, 
which bred freely, not only in this pond but on those of some of 
our neighbours, especially at Sandhill and Cotheleston, which at 
last I think led to my father’s stuck becoming extinct, for he did 
not pinion the young, which, being able to fly, paid occasional 
visits to their relations. At the latter place they gave great 
offence to the farmer who rented some grass-fields near the pond, 
and who eventually persuaded his landiord to have them shot, 
observing that “three of them things did eat as much as a 
sheep.” My father’s flock shared the fate of their relations, and 
consequently soon became extinct. I have one pair now, but as 
I only got them late this summer I am not yet able to say whether 
they will breed or not, but I do not think there is much doubt 
about it. 
Of the Pink-footed Goose, Anser brachyrhynchus, Mr. Sclater 
says, it has “‘never, so far as I am aware, bred in confinement, 
although eggs were laid in St. James’s Park.” With me, however, 
they have bred rather freely. I first had a pair in 1871, and they 
laid their first egg on May 2nd, 1872. On this occasion they laid 
six eggs, three of which were hatched, though only one of the 
young ones reached maturity. In 1873 the same pair bred again, 
the first egg being laid on April 27th, but this time they had bad 
