THE UPLAND GOOSE. 
Chloephaga magellanica. 
Plate XLYIII. 
1m the first series of these Illustrations I have given a figure of the Ashy-headed Goose ( Chloephaga 
poliocephala), with which the “Upland Goose” was formerly confounded. In 1847, the receipt of living 
specimens of the present bird enabled me to point out the very marked characters which separate the two 
species. In the “ Upland Goose,” as will be seen by reference to Mr. Wolf’s figures, the male has the fore part 
of the body of a clear white, and the female is brown, barred with black; while in the Ashy-headed Goose the 
sexes are so nearly alike, that it is almost impossible to distinguish them. These two species, as well as a 
third of the same group—the Ruddy-headed Goose (C. rubidiceps) —the sexes of which are alike, as in the 
Ashy-headed—all breed in the Society’s Gardens every year,; so that the various phases of their respective 
plumages are now well known to us. 
In a state of nature the Upland Goose inhabits the Falkland Islands, and the adjacent southern portions 
of the South American continent. Mr. Darwin in the “Voyage of the Beagle ,” tells us that this species is 
common in the former locality, but keeps to the interior of the Islands, whence it has received its name of the 
“ Upland ” Goose, being seldom or never found near the coasts. In some interesting notes on the birds of the 
Falkland Isles, published in “ The Ibis ” for 1861, Captain C. C. Abbott supplies us with the following 
particulars concerning the habits of this bird in a state of nature:— 
i “ This Goose is found abundantly everywhere in East Falkland. At Cow Bay, where the grass is short 
and sweet, Rabbits, Upland Geese, and Jackass Penguins, are so plentiful, that the place is called ‘The 
Farmyard.’ The Upland Goose is easily domesticated, and very readily takes to eating corn. It breeds all 
over the country, as well as on the adjoining islets; and on this point Mr. Darwin seems to have made a 
mistake, unless the disappearance of the Fox from East Falkland has caused a change in its habits in this 
respect. 
“ These Geese sometimes lay in the long grass, and at other times in the bushes on the banks of streams. 
The nest is rudely formed of grass till the laying is completed, when the bottom is lined with down. This is 
one way of telling whether the eggs are sat upon or not. Owing to the Gander generally stationing himself 
about one hundred yards from where the female is sitting, I used to think it was easy to find the nest; but I 
have sometimes walked about for nearly an hour before I could come upon the female, as she never moves 
until almost trodden upon. A curious peculiarity of this bird is that, when they leave their nest, after 
laying, they cover it up with straw, and when they leave it after the eggs are set upon, they cover it up 
with down. No doubt, in the latter case, this is done to keep the warmth in the eggs, and in the former to 
prevent their destruction by birds of prey. This peculiarity of covering up the eggs seems to be common to 
all the geese and ducks of the Falkland Islands. 
“ The Upland Goose lays generally in the first week in October. Sometimes I have found seven, sometimes 
eight eggs in a nest, the latter number being, I think, the maximum. The young birds nearly acquire their 
plumage in the first year, and are only distinguishable by the mottled colour of their feet, and their plumage 
being less bright. In the second year the young birds moult their wing feathers, and are then found together 
in large flocks near the sea coast, where on being disturbed they immediately run down to the salt water, 
being unable to fly in this condition.” 
