All Reserved. Octobkr, 1918. 
BIRD NOTES: 
THE 
JOURNAL OF THE FOREIGN BIRD CLUB. 
Patagonian and Egyptian Geese. 
By W- Sttorf. Baily. 
In these war-times with their multitudinous restrictions as 
to feeding" live stock, unless one has a lars^e pond, it is almost 
an offence a.q'ainst D.O.R.A. to keep anything' in the water-fowl 
line except i?eese. These birds, being; .grass-eaters, can be kept 
on any waste bit of land, with practically no expense, and as 
they will flourish with very little water, many people can keep 
and breed them, who could not succeed with ducks. For many 
years now I have had one or more pairs of Magellan Geese, in 
my opinion the most attractive of all water-fowl. It is hard 
to say which is the more handsome, the gander in his black 
and white plumage, or the goose with her dress of chocolate 
and black. Both are very beautiful birds. The one drawback 
to keeping them is their quarrelsome disposition, which makes 
it necessary, if more than one pair is kept, to confine them in 
the breeding season in different pens. At this period the males 
are sometimes savage with human beings. One gander that I 
kept for more than ten years would invariably assault my 
housekeeper, and, as he was full-winged, he was quite a 
dangerous adversarv. This bird used to take long flights, 
visiting farmyards, assaulting the farmers' ducks and geese, 
and otherwise making himself a nuisance, so I finally had to 
have his wings cut. At last he got into trouble, receiving a 
kick from my nony, whose heels he was fond of biting. This 
broke his thigh quite close to his body, and as we were not 
particularly successful in setting it, he carried one leg at nearly 
right angles to the other for the rest of his life. This accident 
rlirin't cure him of his pugnacity, but greatly handicapped h^m 
in hi- numerous fights. These geese, in captivity at any rate, 
are poor parents. For several years young have been hatched 
here, but all have died at about one month old, or younger. This 
