SPUR-WINGED GOOSE 53 



days in feeding, and that before alighting, they usually circle a few times. Some- 

 times they perch on a solitary dead tree in some swamp. In landing on the ground 

 they take care not to alight heavily. The neck and feet are stretched out, and the 

 beating of the large wings makes a loud noise. This writer thinks that they occa- 

 sionally spend the night on the branches of trees. At least three other observers 

 found birds perching or roosting on trees. In the marshes their feeding-places are 

 easily discoverable on account of the paths which they make through the grass. 

 Exceptionally, Abel Chapman (1921) found them flying far afield on moonlight 

 nights. In the daytime he frequently saw them squatting on sandbanks where they 

 had a very untidy and unsightly appearance in contrast to the trim and smart ap- 

 pearance of northern wild-fowl. 



Wariness. Nearly all observers are in agreement as to their extreme shyness, but 

 T. Ayres (1880) says that in the Transvaal they would almost invariably creep 

 away instead of taking wing, so that unless the hunter has a dog it is no easy matter 

 to find them. At times also they seem to be very inquisitive, and when on the wing 

 will occasionally approach a hunter near enough to be within easy range. None of 

 the so-called African Geese seems to post sentries, and whole flocks of this species 

 may be seen apparently fast asleep (A. Chapman, 1921). 



Flight. Witherby (1901) did not find them in large flocks on the White Nile, 

 and usually they were seen in company with larger numbers of Egyptian Geese. 

 On the whole the consensus of opinion is that these birds are seldom found in large 

 numbers, the flocks usually averaging from five to a dozen, though as many as 

 thirty or forty have been seen together. In the Kilimandjaro region, Sjostedt (1910) 

 found them in February and March in small flocks. When disturbed they stretched 

 their long necks, the head motionless, then slowly arose with heavy wing strokes 

 and flew away high over the steppe. He also found them rather high up on the 

 mountains, and during the rainy season, on April 14, several specimens were seen at 

 an altitude of 1400 meters, in company with the Black Duck (Anas sparsa). 



Voice. Heinroth (1911) describes the voice as a series of short, abrupt, though 

 sometimes prolonged, whistling sounds, like the squeak of a rubber doll, very in- 

 significant for so large a bird. Usually the note is accompanied by jerky movements 

 of the head and body. In spite of his wide experience in zoological matters, Hein- 

 roth is not sure whether or not the note of both sexes is the same. Other observers 

 have described the voice in various ways, but nearly all remark its extreme weakness, 

 considering the size of the birds. In the young the note seems to be a hissing noise. 

 In older birds it has been described as a hoarse quack, or even as a trumpet-like 

 sound. According to Horsbrugh (1912) it is a curiously weak sort of whistle which 



