The Gardens and Menagerie of the Zoological Society Delineated (Volume 2) (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1831. Excerpt: ... Another species of the same group, long since introduced into this country, but of much less frequent occurrence than the last, is the Gambo or Spur-winged Goose of Ray, Willughby, and Latham, a native of northern, and more particularly of western, Africa. This bird, which is not very well figured in Dr. Latham's Synopsis, agrees with the Canadian Goose in some of those characters which connect the Geese with the Swans, but is much more robust in make and more anserine in general appearance. Its size and proportions are nearly those of the Common Goose; its legs long and placed beneath the middle of the body; and its neck of moderate length and proportionate thickness. At the base of the bill, which is broad and flat, it has a tubercle like that of the tame Swan, increasing in size with the age of the individual; and the bend of its wings is furnished with a large blunt spur, which appears to be occasionally doubled. On this latter character Dr. Leach founded his genus Plectropterus. The Spur-winged Goose was confounded by Willughby, and afterwards by Buffon, with a variety of the Egyptian Goose, equally distinguished by the presence of a spur upon the wing, but differing considerably in the form of its bill, and in its colours. In the former the entire bill and the tubercle at its base are of a dull red; the sides of the head are white; the upper parts of the body black, with a metallic brilliancy; a patch of white, mottled with black spots, occupies the base of each of the wings; and the under parts are white, sometimes marked with indistinct zigzag lines of gray. The legs have an obscure tinge of red; and the spurs of the wings are horn-coloured; but the latter are visible only when the wings are expanded, being concealed at all other times beneath the...