676 
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY 
BULLETIN. 
AMERICAN WATER FOWL IN THE ZOOLOGICAL PARK. 
AN AMERICAN COLLECTION OF GEESE. 
By Len S. Cranpatu. 
HE wild birds has been 
practiced throughout the ages by people of 
many classes, in the pursuit of both pleasure 
or material gain. While the gallinaceous birds 
have doubtless been accorded premier honors, 
the water fowl have always been deservedly 
popular, as witnessed by their universal culture. 
In this country one of the most enthusiastic 
Mr. T. A. Havemeyer, who has 
gathered together on his estate at Mahwah, New 
Jersey, an imposing collection of about 300 
specimens, including seven species of swans, 
twenty-eight of 
ducks. 
confinement of 
collectors is 
geese and eight species of 
The grounds include about 3,200 acres of 
broad, rolling lowlands, beautifully situated be- 
tween heavily wooded mountains, and their at- 
tractiveness is greatly enhanced by the herds of 
European red deer and the numerous English 
ring-neck pheasants that have been acclimatized. 
The water fowl are divided among three en- 
closures, all of which include miniature lakes 
and an ample expanse of grazing ground. 
The first paddock encountered includes half 
an acre of pasture and a pond of double this 
area. In it are kept a pair of Hawaiian Geese, 
(Nesochen sandvicensis), three Little White- 
Fronted Geese, (Anser erythropus), two pairs of 
Magellan upland geese, one pair of cereopsis, 
four spur-wing, two semi-palmated, three young 
European white-fronted geese and four black- 
necked swans. 
Two of these species are of sufficient interest 
to deserve detailed comment. 
The Hawaiian geese are the rarest and most 
beautiful of the birds in this enclosure, and per- 
haps they are the first of their kind to be seen 
in this country. Their general color is brown, 
each feather bordered with white; the head and 
face and a band around the neck are black, with 
the throat creamy-brown. ‘The bird weighs about 
three pounds. Like other Hawaiian birds, this 
goose may soon become extinct as the result of 
indiscriminate slaughter by Japanese immi- 
It is found almost solely in Kona, a 
district of Hawaii, where it breeds on the old 
lava fields, feeding on grass and berries, notably 
those of a very abundant V’accinium, and rarely 
going near water. 
grants. 
For some reason, this goose 
never breeds on any of the adjacent islands, sey- 
eral of which are in sight. 
A very interesting fact, confirmed in living 
birds in the Gardens of the Zoological Society 
in London, is the giving off of a musky odor 
from the neck of this goose. In Europe, the 
Hawaiian goose has proved quite hardy, and 
has even been induced to breed. It is very do- 
cile by nature and affectionate toward man. 
The little white-fronted geese are handsome 
They 
are easily distinguished from the young speci- 
mens of the European white-fronted goose in 
the same paddock, by their smaller size, larger 
frontal patch and pink beaks. These two spe- 
cies of geese were confused for many years, and 
birds, and far from common in captivity. 
