The CEREOPSIS GOOSE (_Cereopsis Novæ-Hollandiæ_) is recognisable by its powerful body, thick short neck, small head, and short strong beak, which is high at the base, and covered with a cere almost to the blunt and hooked extremity. The webbed feet have long tarsi, short toes, and large powerful claws. In the broad wings the shoulder-quills are well developed. The tail is short and rounded; the thick plumage is of a beautiful dark grey, shaded with brown. The crown of the head is somewhat lighter, and the back decorated with round, blackish brown spots, situated at the tips of some of the feathers. The lower halves of the secondary quills and tail-feathers are also brownish black. The eye is scarlet, the beak black, the cere greenish yellow, and the foot blackish. The female resembles her mate in the coloration of her plumage, but is recognisable by her inferior size. The Cereopsis Goose, the only member of the family to which it belongs, is one of those extraordinary birds that at once arrest the attention of the traveller. Not many years ago the localities where it was the most numerous appear to have been the islands in Bass's Straits. Labillardière relates that the first specimens he obtained were captured by the sailors with their hands; and Flinders tells us that one of his boat's crew killed a great number with short sticks, and took several alive. Bailly not only confirmed these accounts, but states that those he saw could be easily run in upon and captured without trouble. All the above navigators speak of the flesh as being excellent, much better, indeed, than that of European Geese, and seem to have prosecuted the chase with considerable ardour. As a necessary consequence, later visitors found not only that the bird was no longer plentiful, but that from many of these islands it had been completely extirpated. Gould, who shot a pair on Isabella Island, nevertheless thinks that several of them may yet exist upon unvisited parts of the southern coast of Australia. "An old Bushman," however, remarks that on the Australian continent he only saw them twice--in one case there was a small flock, and in the other only two birds, which were in company with some other Geese. The Cereopsis, or "Hen" Goose, as it is called, lives, as might be expected from such an appellation, much more on dry land than on the water. It walks well, and swims badly; indeed, judging from individuals kept in our Zoological Gardens, it seldom enters the water of its own free will. Its flight, likewise, is performed with difficulty, and is remarkably heavy. Its voice is a dull buzzing sound, very unlike the cry of a Goose. We have but scanty information respecting the habits of these birds in their wild state; but from their behaviour in captivity it is easy to form an idea of their usual mode of life. In its aversion to water the Cereopsis differs from all other Geese. Except when driven into a pond, it spends its