ORNAMENTAL WATERFOWL. 95 
Incubation, twenty-eight to thirty days, as far as can be 
ascertained. 
GENUS NESOCHEN. 
This genus comprises only one species, which is of 
limited range, being strictly confined to the Sandwich Islands, 
where it lives on the volcanic lava-crusted hills of the Hawaiian 
group, in company with the still more rare Emperor Goose 
(Philacte). 
SANDWICH ISLAND GOOSE. 
(Nesochen sandoticensis. Bernicla sandvtcensis ). 
This Goose, which is yet somewhat rarely offered for sale, 
is so extremely handsome and hardy as to render its acquisition 
desirable by all who can afford £10 to £12 for a pair, at which 
price it is now offered, in striking contrast to the sum of £60 
which a few years back was willingly given for them. It arrives 
in this country from Polynesia, the date of its first importation 
being about 1832, when a pair was presented to the Zoological 
Society, a gift soon followed by young birds from the Knowsley 
Menagerie, the descendants of both breeding regularly for 
many years. This bird is a great grazer, and does not appear 
to frequent the water much. The nesting season is from March 
to June, and it has bred in captivity in the collections of several 
amateurs, as well as in various European Zoological Gardens. 
In a paper addressed to the “ Ibis” for January, 1904, Mr. 
F. E. Blaauw writes respecting the Sandwich Island Geese 
(Nesochen sandvicensts), a species which has become extremely 
rare in Europe of late years :— 
‘“‘These birds laid eggs in 1903, and were kept at Gooilust in a 
small grass-grown enclosure, with plenty of shrubs and a wooden shed in it. 
As they are not happy in the frost and snow, I have them shut up in the shed 
