168 WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE. 



The eggs are white, of a buffy shade, and measure two inches and ten lines in length, 

 by one inch and eleven lines in breadth. 



This G-oose is readily tamed, and has bred in the London Zoological Gardens. 



"An immature one, brought from North America, and sent to the Belfast Botanic Garden," 

 says Mr. Thompson, "was particularly fond of human society, probably from the kindness 

 it had experienced on shipboard, and would at all times leave its pond to join men at 

 work in the vicinity. But its gala day was when a military band attended at the 

 Garden, and from two to three hundred people were assembled. So soon as they broke 

 up into groups, after the cessation of each piece of music, the Goose took the part of 

 clown on such occasions at a theatre, and was 'the observed of all observers,' as it paid 

 its respects to party after party by running towards them with its neck outstretched 

 almost on a level with the ground. On one of these occasions, in particular, it caused 

 much amusement by following, like an humble servitor, at the heels of the lady of highest 

 rank present, (a marchioness,) for, perhaps, a couple of hours, and bestowing no attention 

 or boldness on any other party. In justice to the Goose, we must, perhaps, rather 

 attribute this partiality to something attractive in the dress of the lady, than to any 

 unworthy tuft-hunting" propensity. After being about a year in the Garden, the Goose 

 disappeared, and not much to the curator's regret, as it shewed little regard to the 

 'Arrangement of British Herbaceous Plants' in the vicinity of its pond being preserved 

 intact, having often levied considerable contributions from the soft and more tender kinds ; 

 among the saxifrages, sometimes not a leaf was left to tell of their former whereabouts." 



It has been known to mate with the Bernicle Goose, and to bring out a brood of hybrids. 



The adult has the bill flesh-coloured; the nail, white; irides, dark brown; forehead, or 

 base of upper mandible, white, bounded posteriorly by a dark line, which shades into a 

 broAvnish ash, which is the colour of the head and neck. The upper parts have the 

 feathers dark gray brown, tipped with light yellowish brown; primaries, nearly black; 

 secondaries, the same. Upper tail coverts, white; tail, dark gray, tipped with white; 

 beneath, the lower part of the neck shades into the pale brownish white of the breast 

 and belly, which again shades into a pure white on the vent and under tail coverts; the 

 lower breast, belly, and sides are irregularly barred and marked with black in both sexes. 

 Legs and feet, with the webs, orange; claws, whitish horn. 



In young birds the plumage "is more uniform in colour, and rather dai'k; the feathers 

 at the base of the upper mandible are of a darker brown than those of the other parts 

 of the head; the nail and point of the beak, light brown. The pale brown feathers on 

 the breast are uniform in colour, without any dark patches or bars." — Yarrell. 

 The length of the adult male is about two feet three inches. 



