36 NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF DUBLIN. 



water. There was no fear of there being any cross breeding between 

 the Cereopsis goose and any of the males of the other numerous varieties 

 of geese about the grounds, no other gander would be allowed to ap- 

 proach her ; these Australian geese at all times bully the other geese, 

 pursuing them until the latter take to the lake, whither the Cereopsis 

 will not follow, appearing to have a great dislike to water. On the 12th 

 December, a little more than three weeks after she bad forsaken the 

 five eggs first laid, the Cereopsis goose was observed to be building 

 again, not far from the former nest, but in a much more open and less 

 sheltered situation : the second nest was made on clay at the foot of a 

 laurel tree, beside a walk and within six feet of a cage in which was a 

 white-headed eagle which attracted many visitors. An egg was laid 

 14th December, a second on the 16th, a third on the 19th, a fourth on 

 the 20th. The gander remained continually on guard, and ran at any 

 one who went too near the nest and goose. Whenever she left the nest 

 she concealed the eggs by pushing the loose feathers over them with 

 her bill. The four eggs were hatched 23rd January, 1869, thirty-five 

 days from the day on which the last egg was laid, reckoning both that 

 day and the day on which the goslings appeared. Five days after they 

 left the shell they were of a mottled colour, grey and black, the cere 

 quite grey ; they fed themselves with meal and water, grass, and bread 

 and milk. In about three weeks they were marked with three black 

 streaks, a median and two lateral ones, commencing on the head and 

 passing down along the neck and body. But one of the four survived. 

 Nine eggs in all were laid, five in December, '68, four in Jan., '69 ; 

 the former batch were deserted, the latter hatched out. The major axis 

 of the eggs measured 3J inches, the minor 2| ; their average greater 

 circumference about 8| in. ; average smaller 1~ inches. On the 1st of 

 November, 1869, the same Cereopsis goose had made another nest and 

 laid the first egg ; a second egg was laid on the 3rd, a third egg on the 

 6th (the fifth being a very wet day, she appears to have postponed the 

 egg due on that day to the subsequent one), a fourth egg on the 7th, a 

 fifth on the 9th : all were hatched out 13th December, thirty-five days 

 from the day on which the last egg was laid, reckoning both that day 

 and the day on which the goslings appeared : the five died young. The 

 goose laid an egg again 18th February, 1870, a second on the 22nd, a 

 third on the 24th; two goslings were hatched out 1st April — the third 

 egg was addled. 



Mr. Gould remarks that the Cereopsis goose — the Cape Barren goose 

 of the colonists — is one of the Australian birds which particularly 

 attracted the notice of the earlier voyagers to that continent as being 

 very plentiful on all the islands in Bass's straits, and so tame that they 

 might be easily knocked down or even captured by hand. During Mr. 

 Gould's sojourn in that part of the world he visited most of the localities 

 above-mentioned, and found that so far from its being still numerous 

 it is almost extirpated; a few, however, he found still inhabiting the 

 smaller islands in Bass's straits, and he killed a pair on Isabella island, 

 one of a small group near Flinder's island, on the 12th January, 1839. 



