ZOOLOGICAL 
it is only recently that their specific identity 
has been admitted. 
The little white-fronted goose breeds in Lap- 
land, and the northern coast of Siberia, migrat- 
ing in large numbers in the fall to Europe and 
Asia, going as far south as Greece and Turkey 
and even into Northern Egypt. In these re- 
gions a great deal of damage is often done to 
the winter crops; young corn and wheat being 
destroyed in great quantities. 
The second paddock is the smallest of all, 
and ineludes perhaps one-half acre, with a small 
pond. In this are kept the wonderful Little 
Maned Goose, (Chenonetta jubata), of Aus- 
tralia, two pairs of the Emperor Goose, (Phi- 
lacte canagica), with a pair of black swans, a 
flock of the vicious Egyptian geese, and a num- 
ber of ducks—wood, Mandarin, mallard (one of 
these is a perfect albino), red-head, pintail, 
European widgeon and blue and green-wing 
teal. 
The maned geese are tiny creatures, no larger 
than widgeon. In Australia they are known as 
“wood ducks,’ and the females do, in a way, 
resemble those of our own handsome little birds. 
In general color, the males are dark above and 
light gray on the breast, where the feathers are 
mottled with black and grayish white; the lower 
abdomen is a glossy black, and the black wing 
speculum is bordered behind and in front with 
white. The female is duller and the breast 
feathers are more heavily mottled with white. 
The feathers of the back of the head and neck 
are somewhat lengthened, especially in the 
males, giving the bird a “maned” appearance. 
This species ranges throughout the whole of 
Australia and Tasmania. The eggs, nine to 
twelve in number, and creamy white, are de- 
posited in a hole in a tree standing near the 
water. It is said that the female brings the 
young to the ground in her bill. 
The Emperor Goose is the rarest of the spe- 
cies found wild in America, and with its blue 
body, finely barred with white, and pure white 
head, makes a striking appearance. It inhabits 
northeastern Asia and northwestern America, 
and breeds near the mouth of the Yukon, and 
the north coast of Siberia, laying its eggs on the 
marshy shores. Late in the summer, when the 
birds haye moulted their wing feathers and are 
unable to fly, thousands are taken in nets by the 
Eskimos. This doubtless accounts for the in- 
creasing rarity of the species. 
The third paddock of Mr. Havemeyer’s wild 
fowl enclosures is the largest and most impor- 
tant. In the center is a pond of about two 
SOCIETY 
BULLETIN. 677 
acres; to the left stretches a splendid four-acre 
grazing ground, and to the right a two-acre 
marsh, heavily grown up with aquatic plants 
and marsh grass. 
The collection of water fowl in this paddock 
presents a wonderful spectacle. One might find 
it difficult to believe that such a number of spe- 
cies could live together so amicably; yet the 
only friction that has ever occurred is that 
caused by the ever-quarrelsome Egyptian geese. 
This gathering includes about 200 swans and 
geese representing the following twenty-eight 
species :— 
Whooping swan, Bewick swan, whistling 
swan, trumpeter swan, mute swan, black swan, 
cereopsis goose, blue goose, lesser snow goose, 
greater snow goose, Ross goose, gray-lag goose, 
European white-fronted goose, American white- 
fronted goose, bean goose, pink-footed goose, 
bar-headed goose, Chinese goose, emperor 
goose, Canada goose, Hutchins goose, white- 
cheeked goose, cackling goose, barnacle goose, 
black brant, Magellan upland goose, Egyptian 
goose. 
The collection of swans is complete and in- 
cludes specimens of all of the known species— 
seven in number.* 
The trumpeters are of course the most rare 
and interesting, as this species is thought to be 
nearly extinct in the wild state. 
Hitherto the black-necked swan has rarely 
lived for long in this country, but Mr. Have- 
meyer’s specimens are kept out all winter and 
are in perfect health. 
Four of the species of the genus Branta are 
extremely interesting in their relations to each 
other, and here offer an unusual opportunity for 
comparison. The familiar Canada Goose, (B. 
canadensis), may be taken as the type. The 
White-Cheeked Goose, (B. c. occidentalis), is the 
western representative of the Canada, and is 
distinguished by its slightly darker color and 
a white ring around the neck. The Hutchins 
Goose, (B. c. hutchinsz), is a diminutive of the 
Canada, and hardly differs from it in color and 
comparative proportions. The Cackling Goose, 
(B. c. minima), bears the same relation to the 
white-cheeked as the Hutchins does to the Can- 
ada. The white neck-ring is very clean-cut, 
and the head and bill much smaller in propor- 
tion to its size, approaching in this respect the 
Barnacle Goose, (B. leucopsis). 
*For a detailed account of all the known species of 
swans, see “The Swans” by C. Wm. Beebe, Tenth 
Annual Report of the N. Y. Zoological Society, 1905. 
