The Mauritian Shelduck (Alopochen mauritianus) is an extinct species of goose

Goose

The word goose is the English name for a group of waterfowl, belonging to the family Anatidae. This family also includes swans, most of which are larger than true geese, and ducks, which are smaller....

 from Mauritius

Mauritius

Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...

. It was a close relative of the Egyptian Goose

Egyptian Goose

The Egyptian Goose is a member of the duck, goose and swan family Anatidae. It is in the shelduck subfamily Tadorninae, and is the only extant member of the genus Alopochen...

. Known from one or two subfossil

Subfossil

Subfossil refers to remains whose fossilization process is not complete, either for lack of time or because the conditions in which they were buried were not optimal for fossilization....

 carpometacarpus

Carpometacarpus

The carpometacarpus is the fusion of the carpal and metacarpal bone, essentially a single fused bone between the wrist and the knuckles. It is a smallish bone in most birds, generally flattened and with a large hole in the middle. In flightless birds, however, its shape may be slightly different,...

 bones and a few descriptions, this bird was about the size of a Brent Goose

Brent Goose

The Brant or Brent Goose, Branta bernicla, is a species of goose of the genus Branta. The Black Brant is an American subspecies. The specific descriptor bernicla is from the same source as "barnacle" in Barnacle Goose, which looks similar but is not a close relation.-Appearance:The Brant Goose is...

. Its appearance is unknown, except that its wings showed the typical color pattern of shelduck

Shelduck

The shelducks, genus Tadorna, are a group of large birds in the Tadorninae subfamily of the Anatidae, the biological family that includes the ducks and most duck-like waterfowl such as the geese and swans....

s. It is sometimes considered conspecific with the Malagasy Shelduck; in this case it would become the nominate subspecies, as Alopochen mauritianus mauritianus.

Sometimes even in scholarly sources one can find references to a supposed "Mauritius Swan" or "Mauritius Comb Goose". These refer to the initial misidentification of the Alopochen mauritianus bones as belonging to the genus Sarkidiornis, but as early as 1897 the true nature of this bird was realized.

Extinction

Like its Réunion relative

Réunion Shelduck

The Réunion Shelduck or Kervazo's Egyptian Goose is an extinct species of goose from Réunion. It was a close relative of the Egyptian Goose and was about the same size. There is only one description remaining, that of Dubois made in 1674. He merely mentions that they were similar to European geese...

, the Mauritian Shelduck was rapidly hunted to extinction. Still reasonably plentiful in 1681, the population collapsed soon afterwards, and Leguat

François Leguat

François Leguat was a French explorer and naturalist.Leguat was a French Huguenot originating from the Province of Bresse, now part of the department of Ain, who fled to Holland in 1689 after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685...

 found "wild geese" to be "already rare" in 1693. In 1698, governor Deodati declared them to be extinct.