188 ALOPOCHEN MGYPTIACUS 



DESCRIPTION 



Adult Male: Head gray except for a large patch around the eye, an area at base of bill, and a ring 

 around the lower neck, which are ruddy brown. Mantle rusty gray, finely lineated with black. Scapu- 

 lars dark brown vermiculated with lighter colors; back, rump, upper tail-coverts and tail black. 

 Breast almost like the mantle, but lighter; middle of abdomen white; flanks almost like breast; lower 

 abdomen and under tail-coverts rust color. There is a prominent dark maroon patch in the middle of 

 the breast, at junction of breast and abdomen. All of upper wing-coverts white, with a narrow black 

 line; secondaries rich metallic green, forming a marked speculum. Primaries black. 



Iris dark yellow; bill pink, with tip, margins, and base black; tarsi and feet flesh-color to blood-red. 



Wing 370 to 405 mm.; bill 48 to 55; tarsus 80 to 85. 



Weight up to 6 pounds (A. Chapman, 1921) (2.7 kilograms). 



Adult Female: Similar but slightly smaller. Colors not quite so brilliant. 

 Weight, about 4 pounds (about 2 kilograms), and up to 4.5 pounds. 



Immature: The head is much darker, the colors are nowhere so brilliant and the maroon patch on 

 the breast is wanting. The bill is pale and yellowish, and the legs are yellow, becoming more pink 

 with age. 



Young in Down: Resemble very closely the young of Tadorna and Casarca. Above striped length- 

 wise with gray-white, alternating with dark brown; lower part of the rump w T hite, in this respect being 

 entirely different from geese (Naumann, 1896-1905). 



Note: Coloring becomes more brilliant with age, and at base of bill in male there is a slight swelling 

 which becomes larger at the breeding season. Feet become darker red with age (Naumann, 1896— 

 1905), and are richer in color during the reproductive period. 



DISTRIBUTION 



The Egyptian Goose is, perhaps, the best known and most abundant of all African Anatida. It is 

 found throughout the whole continent, excepting, of course, the arid regions, and even northward 

 _ . to the eastern Mediterranean countries. It is non-migratory, its movements being 



only local and conditioned by the water supply. 



Like other African or southeastern European species, these birds have often occurred beyond the 

 confines of the usual range, notably in Europe. Since the birds are commonly kept in zoological 

 Sporadic gardens and private parks the records of appearance in Europe have frequently been 



nights taken to refer to escaped birds. But the peculiar circumstances attending certain of 



these records have led many authorities to accept some of them at least as being cases of sporadic 

 flights. We have here, I believe, a situation analogous to that presented by the appearance of the 

 Ruddy Sheldrake in large numbers outside its usual range. 



In the British Isles eighty Nile Geese are said to have once appeared in Hampshire; three were shot 

 near Glasgow in 1832, and others have been taken in Durham, Somerset, Cornwall, Norfolk, Suffolk, 

 European Devonshire, Berkshire, Westmoreland, Cambridge, Hampshire, Northumberland, 

 records Dorset, Kent, Sussex and Oxford (F. O. Morris, 1903). In Ireland the species has ap- 



peared at least a dozen times, sometimes in considerable parties (Ussher and Warren, 1900). Ac- 

 cording to G. R. Gray (1871) very many appeared in south Scotland in 1832, while twelve were seen 

 on the Tyne in 1846, and flocks were observed in 1865 and 1867 in the Montrose Basin. On the con- 

 tinent these birds have been repeatedly seen in Germany. A large flock is said to have appeared in 



