38 On the Breeding of some Birds at Gooilust, Holland.


grown. I believe this is the first instance of Golden Eyes having

bred in captivity.


The White-eyed Ducks (Nyroca ferruginea) were not so

successful this year as usual, many eggs being clear.


Amongst the geese I may mention three fine Orinoco

Geese (Chenalopex jubata') which have been reared under a

domestic hen, and are the offspring of a pair which were born

here some eight years ago.


Tittle Orinoco chicks are beautifully marked with black

stripes and spots on a yellowish ground, with rich brown shading

between the two colours.


Ashy-headed (Bernicla poliocephala') and Ruddy-headed

Geese ( B. rubidiceps) raised a couple of broods.


The female of a pair of Lesser White-fronted Geese laid

one single egg, shaped much like a German sausage, and sat on

it until it burst. Needless to say that nothing could possibly

have come of it.


My Sandwich Island Geese bred so very early this year

that most of the eggs were spoiled by the frost, so that only two

chicks hatched on a bitterly cold day. One of them died, but

the other one lived and is now quite full grown. It has even

moulted into the adult plumage. I have now four pairs of these

rare geese.


Tike last year and the year before my pair of White-necked

Cranes bred two chicks, but this year I was not so successful as

usual in rearing them. One died when quite small on a cold day,

and the second one, when about two feet high, stuck fast in the

mud of the pond, broke both its wings struggling to get out, and

died a couple of days later.


The White Indian and Australian Cranes both laid, but

the eggs did not hatch.



