inser 



25 



" Of the Goose kind there are Penelopes and 

 also Chenalopeces, the latter generally smaller than 

 a Goose ; and Britain knows no richer feast than 

 these." 



The second runs : — 



" Of the Goose kind are Chenalopeces and Che- 

 nerotes, Britain knows no richer feast than these." 



To me the latter reading most approves itself, for it 

 both makes us richer by one bird, and the Penelopes seem 

 to our learned men to be of the Duck tribe rather than of 

 the Goose. But I will try to say what these birds are and 

 by what names they go among our countrymen. The Chena- 

 lopex^ takes its name from the Goose and the Fox, while 

 it is called by Gaza Vulpanser in Latin, though our people 

 nowadays name it Berganderl It is longer than a Duck 

 and bigger, with a ruddy breast. It lives upon the waters 

 and in coneys' burrows. At times it even nests in holes of 

 lofty rocks (whence possibly the name was first allotted to 

 it by our ancestors the Anglo-Saxons). I have nowhere else 

 seen the Vulpanser save upon the river Thames. Neverthe- 

 less they say that it is plentiful upon the isle which is called 

 Tenia', and that it breeds in coneys' burrows there. In 

 habits it is very like a Fox, for, while the young are still 

 of tender age, should any one attempt to capture them, the 

 old Vulpanser rolls upon the ground before his very feef, 

 as if she could be taken there and then, and thus allures 

 the man to follow her, until the young are able to escape ; 

 then she flies off and summons back her brood. I think that 

 there are very few men now who know what sort of birds the 



1 Turner's bird was undoubtedly the Sheld-Drake ( Tadorna cornuta), 

 notwithstanding the fact that the name Chenalopex has been conferred 

 on the so-called 'Fox-Goose' of Africa. 



2 The Sheld-Drake is still the Bargander or Bergander of some 

 districts of England ; possibly the correct spelling should be Burgander, 

 i.e. Burrow Duck. The word seems to have nothing to do with Berg = a 

 mountain. 



^ Possibly St Mary's, or even Coquet Island. 

 * The Sheld-Drake does not usually behave thus. 



