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Show 414 ON THE WEKA RAIL AND SNOW-GOOSE. [Mar. 21, running about, on which occasions they will keep them uplifted at different angles to their body. They can dig deep holes in the ground with their bills, and use this power to make their escape under a fence. M y two pairs differed much in size; and in the larger pair the ground-tone of the plumage was very rufous, whilst in the smaller pair the ground-tone was more dusky. In both pairs, the males were larger than the females. They seem to be very hardy birds, as they walk about most contentedly in the snow. II. T H E S N O W - G O O S E (Chen hyperboreus). Since the year 1887 I have possessed a pair of the white Snow- Goose (Chen hyperboreus). These birds were kept in company with a number of other aquatic birds on a small piece of ornamental water in my park. Every spring they paired, got very much excited, and attempted to wander away, but no eggs were laid. Three years ago I purchased what w~as supposed to be a pair, but which soon turned out to be two males of the Blue or Cassin's Snow-Goose (Chen ccerulescens). One of these males constantly followed the pair of White Snow-Geese, and as he seemed not to be too intrusive, he wras, after some lame attempts on the part of the white male to drive him away, allowed to do as he liked. This went on for two years, when, in the spring of 1898, the blue male began to assert himself more and more, and finally got the mastership over the white male, and entirely monopolized the white female. In the end of M a y they were frequently seen to pair, and one of the first days in June a nest was made near the edge of the pond, on a heap of dry reeds that happened to be there, and the first egg was laid. With one day between each egg, two more eggs followed, and the female, after having plucked an abundant supply of down from her own breast, began to sit. A curious thing now occurred. The blue male kept active watch near the nest, and attacked furiously every living thing that came near. The white male, however, who had taken the most lively interest in the proceedings of his unfaithful spouse, not being allowed to come near the nest, kept watch on the other side of the water, just opposite the sitting bird, and there kept the coast clear, in exactly the same way as did the blue male on the side where the female actually sat. Between the two the female was very successfully taken care of, for no accident happened, and on the 8th of July, that is after an incubation of 29 days, the three eggs produced three chicks, which were of a dark olive-green colour, ranging into slaty black on the upperside and into yellowish on the belly. The feet and legs and also the bill were black. As for fear of Crows and vermin the family had to be removed into some safe place, I thought it right to give the white male some compensation for all he had had to undergo, and to reunite him with his rightful partner, leaving the usurper in the pond. Both the white birds seemed to be quite happy with this arrange- |