88 
EGYPTIAN GOOSE. 
been the case with those which were shot on the 
Tweed in 1839, and on the Fem Islands in 1830; 
some of which we saw and examined, and had little 
doubt at the time that they had previously formed 
part of the interesting collection kept at Gosford 
House on the hanks of the Firth of Forth. We 
agree, nevertheless, with Mr. Yarrell in thinking, 
that all the birds killed in our islands may not have 
been derived from these sources, and specimens of 
this goose are just as likely to stray from Africa, as 
several other birds which claim that country more 
peculiarly as their own, particularly when they arc 
found in flocks amounting to eighty in number, as in 
that seen in Hampshire. They have also been met 
with in several other English counties ; in Scotland, 
besides those on the Tweed, once near Glasgow; 
and also in Ireland. Temminck gives the south of 
Europe as their range out of Britain, where they 
occur also in straggling parties. Northern Africa 
is, however, their natural station, and so far as we can 
gain information, they spread over the northern half 
of that continent. We have received a specimen in 
a collection understood to he made in Southern 
Africa, hut could not ascertain its exact locality, or 
whether it had not been elsewhere procured. The 
nidifieation in a wild state is not described, neither 
have we any detailed notice of their habits. 
The specimen from Southern Africa alluded to 
has the base of the bill and a space surrounding the 
eyes chestnut brown (reddish). The cheeks, crown, 
chin, and throat, yellowish white ; the neck is yel- 
