CEREOPS1S, a genus of Birds established by Latham, and placed by him (1802) among the Waders (Grallaiorts); and (in 1824) next to the Swinunern—Paletipedee (Anseres, Linn.). The characters of this bird, which Mr. Bennett nays has been observed by nearly all the navigators who had visited the mouth coast of Australia and its neighbouring islands from 1792 downwards, are as follows : Bill short, elevated, obtuse, covered by a broadly expanded care, except at the extremity, which is somewhat vaulted aud truncated. Nostrils large, situated about the middle of the bill, and open. Feet with tarsi (ahanke) longer than the middle toe, and bare of feathers a little way above the knees ; great toe articulated to the posterior part of the tarsus ; anterior toes palmated, and furnished with membranes deeply notched or cut out as It were so as to appear scarcely to reach beyond the half of their length ; nails long and strong; wings ample ; wing-coverts nearly as long as the quills ; first quill it little shorter than the succeeding once. Tail feathers sixteen.
C. Norm Hulhoulio, the Ceroopsis Goose, is about the size of the common goose and nearly of the same carriage, with the exception of the length of the legs, Temminek gives the length at from 2{ feet to 3 feet. We select Mr. Bennett's description :—" A broad patch on the top of the head is of a dull white, and the rest of the plumage of n dingy gray, deeper on the upper than on the under parts, having the extremity of each of the feathers of the back margined with a lighter band, and most of the wing-toverts and secondary quill feathers marked with rounded dusky spots of from two to four lines in diameter. On the feathers of the back and shoulders the spots are much larger, assume an angular or serailunar form, and approach more nearly the general colour of the plumage. The quill-feathers both of the wings and tail are dusky black throughout the greater part of their extent. The naked extremity of the bill is black; the broadly expanded sere of a light straw or lemon colour ; the irides light-hazel ; the naked part of the legs reddish-orange ; and the toes, together with their web and claws, and a streak passing for some little distance up the fore pert of the leg, black." Mr. Yarrell having examined one that died in the Zoological Gardens, Regent's Park, states that its trunk was much shorter than that of the true geese, and more triangular in its shape. The pectoral muscles were largo and dark-coloured. The trachea was of large but nearly uniform calibre, without convolution, and attached in its descent to the right side of the neck, as in the heron and bittern. In the form of its bone of divarication and bronchia., it most resembled the same part in the geese. The muscles of voice were two pairs; one pair attached to the shafts of the os fureatorium, the other to the inner lateral surface of the sternum. The lobes of the liver were of large size, morbidly dark in colour; their substance broke down uuder the finger on the slightest pressure. The stomach, a true gizzard, was of small size as compared with the bulk of the bird. The first duplicature of intestine was 6 inches in length, at the returning portion of which the biliary and pancreatic duets entered; from thence to the origin of the ere= 4 feet 6 inches ; the evcca 9 inches each ; the colon and rectum together 5 inches; the whole length of the intestines was 7 feet 5 inches. The stomach and
intestinal viscera were loaded with fat.
With regard to its habits Mr. Bennett says—" It is true that the limited opportunities that have occurred of observing it in a state of nature have precluded the possibility of obtaining a complete history of its habits and mode of life ; but the accounts furnished by various writers lead directly to the inference that it resembles the wild geese of the northern hemisphere as closely in these particulars as in general conformation. We cannot state with certainty whether it is equally migratory; but Captain Flinders, who found it at one period of the year so abundant on Goose Island as fully to justify the appel lation, adds that it was by no means so munerous at a different season, and this fact necessarily implies at least a partial change of locality. In its manners it appease that it is by no means so shy as our northern geese, a circumstance which probably depends on the little disturbance that it has hitherto met with in its native haunts. Labillardiere tells us that many of those first seen by him suffered themselves to be taken with the hand ; but the rest becoming apprised of their danger speedily took to flight. Considerable 'numbers were taken by the crew of Captain Flinders's vessel, both at Lucky Bay and Goose Island, by knocking them down with sticks, and some of them were secured alive. According to M. Bailly, those seen by him at Preservation Island evinced so little shyness, and suffered themselves to be approached so readily, that his boat's crew were enabled to procure without any trouble a sufficient quantity to victual them during their stay. The flesh of these geese, as they are called, is described by Bass as being excellent. D'Entreeasteaux considered it much more delicate than that of the European goose ; and Flinders adds that on Preservation Island it formed the best repasts of his men.
" It would seem that this bird does not often leave the coast to visit the interior of the country, for M. Riche, who was lost by his companions for more than two days at Esp6ranca Bay, never met with it in the course of his wanderings in search of them. M. Bailly states that on Preservation Island it takes up its abode on the grassy declivities ; and Captain Flinders found it on Goose Island, amongst the grass and on the shore : It feeds,' he says, 'upon grass, and rarely takes to the water.' Its usual weight is from 7 to 10 lbs. According to Mr. Bass it has a deep, hoarse, clanging, and though a short yet an inflected voice; and to the accuracy of this observation we can ourselves bear testimony." This bird has lived and bred in the Gardens of the Zoological Society in Regent's Park, where there are at present several living specimens.' Our drawing is from a pair with a brood hatched in the Gardens.