on the Buddy-headecl Goose.



243



On the continent, the species was first imported in 1886,

represented by a single male at the Zoological Gardens of Antwerp,

where I had the good fortune to be able to acquire it through the

courtesy of the director, Mr. J. Vekemans. A couple of months

later, Dr. Sclater kindly let me have a female which then lived in

the Zoological Gardens of London, and from these two birds I have

been able to breed a numerous progeny which, with the occasional

addition of an imported bird, are almost without exception respon¬

sible for all the Ruddy-headed Geese that have been kept in captivity

since 1887.


In its native land this bird is a migrating species. In Tierra

del Fuego, which I visited in 1911, I saw flocks of this species ready

to leave on the 11th of April, and I was told by the settlers there

that the bird is a summer visitor to the island.


In the country behind Punta ikrenas this bird is also a

summer visitor, breeding in the rough land to the west of the town.

In the private Museum of Padu Borgatella in that same town I saw

goslings in down, which had been collected there. How far north

they migrate in winter I am unable to say.


On Tierra del Fuego I found the birds remarkably tame near

the Jente Grande bay, and in several other places. They did not

mix there with the flocks of Chloephaga dispar.


In confinement, I have found the Ruddy-headed Goose ex¬

tremely hardy and very long lived; but to do well it must have as

much grass as it wishes for. The young females begin to lay

generally when they are two or three years old and the number of

eggs laid is usually five, although I have had broods of six. The

goslings, which are carefully tended by the parents, generally grow

very fast, and the first plumage is like that of the parents, only that

the markings are not so well defined, and the white shoulder is a

little mixed with grey ; also the glossy green wing bar is not present.


Before the winter the birds moult their first plumage, except

the greater flight feathers, which are retained until the second moult.

The female is slightly smaller than the male and has of course a

different voice. Some of the adult males have a beautiful pearl

grey colour about the underparts which is lacking in others, where

it is replaced by deep foxy red.



