200 
THE SPUR-WINGED GOOSE. 
colour, whicli becomes lighter as it passes over the breast, 
where there is a patch of deep chestnut red, to the under 
parts of the body. The fore part of the back and the 
scapulars arc brownish red, undulated with dusky and 
grey ; the rest of the back, and tail feathers, black. Now 
give to some of tlie black wing feathers a fringe of dark 
glossy green, margin others with grey and light red, and 
throw over all dusky waves like smoke wreaths and shifting 
cloud shadows, and we have as charming a tout ensemble as 
could be desired. 
This is the only British representative of the Chencdojiex, 
or Fox-Goose genus. A native of Africa, introduced into this 
country on account of its beauty, it may not unfrequently 
be seen on ornamental pieces of water, in a semi-do- 
mesticated state, and sometimes in wilder spots far away 
from the protection of man, as it is a bird apt to stray and 
find for itself a home and a breeding-place more akin to 
its free nature than any we can provide for it. So that, like 
the Pheasant, although not originally indigenous to those 
islands, it has become to some extent a naturalised denizen 
therein. Thus it is that specimens have often been obtained 
at great distances from any place where they have been 
fostered. On the banks of the river Tyne, near Tyning- 
ham, in East Lothian, a flock of nineteen of these birds 
was observed by Mr. J ohn Hay to fly to the southward from 
the sea, in stormy weather ; on their leader, the largest, 
being shot, they turned and flew seaward again, rather 
trusting to the elements than men. 
The Spur- winged Goose (Anser, or Plectropterus, Gam- 
hiensis). — This is another single representative of a restricted 
genus, Plectropterus meaning spur- winged. The members 
of this genus differ but little from the preceding, except that 
they present, instead of a soft or skin-covered knob at the 
bend of the wing, a hard-pointed projecting spur, like that 
which is conspicuous in some members of the Plover 
family. But one specimen of this bird, which is a native 
of Northern and Western Africa, and that very mutilated, 
has been obtained in this country. It is a very handsome 
bird, about the size of the common Wild Goose ; it has a 
