194 ALOPOCHEN MGYPTIACUS 



Association with other Species. Since they are of an exceedingly quarrelsome 

 nature and probably remain mated throughout the year, it is not likely that other 

 species willingly associate with them. The pairs I myself saw during the winter 

 months were always alone, and the only reference to their living in company with 

 other birds is a note by Layard (1875-84) that one of his informants found them 

 nesting on ledges of rock together with Kolb's Vulture (Vultur kolbii) and appearing 

 quite friendly with them. 



Voice. Egyptian Geese have a remarkable vocabulary of sounds, and the voice 

 is distinctly different in the two sexes. Finn (1900) describes the note of the male as 

 a husky chatter, and that of the female as a harsh barking quack. Roughly described, 

 the notes resemble those of the Domestic Goose. When a pair is on the wing one is 

 heard to chatter like a common Goose, while the other utters a rather hoarse gasp 

 (Bohm, 1882). The note of alarm, or perhaps of anger, is given by one of the birds 

 sounding a hoarse kahk, kahk, to which the others reply by a sharp tang, tang, 

 whereupon they all cry together, raising their voices higher and higher, till a sort of 

 tangtangterrangtangtangtang results (Naumann, 1896-1905; A. E. Brehm, 1879). 

 When about to rise they are especially noisy, uttering a harsh kor-kor (C. H. T. 

 Whitehead, 1903), and when vexed a hissing note is heard. Even when quietly feed- 

 ing they keep up an incessant conversation. The note of joy is an oft-repeated tet- 

 tet-tet-tet-tet-tet uttered by the female, and the male utters a much hoarser sound, 

 during which they stand close together and open their wings wide (Heinroth, 1911). 

 In general the voice is quite loud, remarkably hoarse and out of tune, sounding like 

 the notes produced by a cheap tin-horn (A. E. Brehm, 1879). In my own notes I 

 described the female's voice as a loud, rough call something like that of the Ruddy 

 Sheldrake, chow-choic-che-chow-che-che-chow, etc., continually repeated. The male's 

 note has a coughing or wheezing character and is much softer so that it does not 

 carry anywhere near so far. 



Yarrell (Proc. Zool. Soc. London, p. 3, 1833) first called attention to the fact that 

 in the male there is a very highly developed tracheal pouch, and he later figured this 

 in his British Birds (1856). In the Egyptian Goose the bulla ossea of the trachea 

 consists of a bony enlargement on the left side, much broader than it is high, hollow, 

 and generally of rounded form. Presumably the trachea in the female is simple. 



Food. In some parts of their range where grass is plentiful, these birds seem to 

 live entirely on herbage. But they will also eat animal food, and on occasion will 

 dive to procure nourishment. Young grass and grain, maize and beans, worms, 

 larva?, crabs, smaller insects, etc., have been mentioned as articles of their diet 

 (von Heuglin, 1873; Barboza de Bocage, 1876). A. E. Brehm (1879) states that the 

 young are particularly fond of locusts. A very interesting observation is that of 



