GENUS CEREOPSIS. {Lath.) 



OF this family Gould says : " Bui one species of this singular and strictly Australian fowl has yet heen 

 discovered, and I do not think it likely that another will be found." 



CEREOPSIS NOV;E HOLLAND LK. {Lath). 



CEREOPSIS GOOSE. Genus: Cereopsis. 



IN the early days of Australia this most peculiar form of Goose attracted the attention of every navigator who 

 passed through Bass' Straits, for not only was it very plentiful on the islands and mainland, but it was also 

 a fine eating bird, and so tame that it might be knocked over with a stick, or even caught by hand. 

 Unhappily, these virtues proved its bane, for the w r ork of destruction was carried on systematically, till at the 

 present the Cereopsis Goose is nearly extinct in the settled districts. 



In its habits it is terrestrial rather than aquatic, passing much of its time on the ground and seldom 

 taking to the water, and is strictly a vegetable feeder, subsisting principally upon grasses that thrive near the 

 coast ; consequently its flesh is most delicate. It can be readily domesticated, and breeds as well in captivity as 

 in freedom, but it is by no means a desirable addition to the farmyard, as its disposition is most quarrelsome, it 

 will attack even pigs, dogs, or any other animal that approaches, inflicting severe wounds with its sharp, hard 

 bill. 



Its voice is anything but melodious, being " deep, short, hoarse, clanging, and disagreeable." 



The eggs are a smooth creamy white, both ends being nearly alike in shape, with a good bilge; the shell 

 a little limey. Length, three inches and a-quarter by two inches and a-quarter. 



The sexes are alike in plumage ; the chicks are covered with a soft fawn down, sometimes marked with 

 dirty dark brown stripes on the head and back ; eyes and bill, black : they assume the adult plumage at a very 

 early age. 



The entire plumage is a light silvery fawn, lightest on the head and deepening to blackish brown on 

 the tail, the under tail coverts, the tips of the secondaries, and the apical half of the primaries ; the w r ing- 

 coverts and scapularies have an oblong spot of brownish black near the tip ; the feathers of the back edged with 

 pale brownish grey ; beak, black ; nostrils, lemon-yellow ; irides, vermilion ; eye-lash, dark browm ; legs, reddish 

 orange ; toes, webs, claws, and a streak up the front of the legs, black. 



Habitats : Victoria, South Australia, and Tasmania. 



