hybrid goose. chilian' goose. 215 



The Hybrid Goose. 



Anas hybrida, Latham. 



Plumage^ white in the male, black in the female (?) : 



bill and legs either red or yellow. 



Anas hybrida, Latham, Gen. Synop. 2d Supp. 345. Molliii. 

 Chi'i, 383. 



This goose is stated to " inhabit the Archipelago of 

 Chioloe in South America, and may be called monoga- 

 mous, as the male and female are never found apart ; not 

 uniting in flocks as the other sorts : during the time of 

 incubation they retire to the rivers, where the female 

 generally lays about eight white eggs, in a hole formed 

 out of the sand." Its description is stated as follows : 

 — " Size of the domestic goose; but the neck somewhat 

 shorter, and the wings and tail longer. The male has 

 the plumage of a pure white throughout, with the bill 

 and legs yellow ; the bill is semicylindrical, with a red 

 cere : the female is black, with some streaks of white, 

 arising from the tips of several of the feathers being 

 bordered with white : the bill and legs red : the legs 

 nearly the same as in the common goose." Why this 

 should be called hybrida, — a name which no species can 

 bear with the least regard to sense, — does not appear. 



The Chilian Goose. 



Anas Coscaroba, Latham. 



Entirely white : bill and legs red. 



{'oscaroba Goose, Lath. Synop. of Birds, Id Supp. 345. Gen. 

 Hist. X. 228. 



If this goose, as Dr. Latham states on the presumed 

 authority of Mollini, is a native of Chih, its acquisition 

 by some of our countrymen there would be a matter of 

 no great difficulty ; since the doctor goes on to say that 

 it is valuable for its extreme docility and tameness in 

 confinement, and particularly by attaching itself to the 

 p 4 



