Chap. VIII. 



DOMESTIC GOOSE. 



303 



young of which can easily be tamed. 22 This species, when 

 crossed with the domestic goose, produced in the Zoological 

 Gardens, as I was assured in 1849, perfectly fertile offspring. 23 

 Yarrell 24 has observed that the lower part of the trachea of 

 the domestic goose is sometimes flattened, and that a ring of 

 white feathers sometimes surrounds the base of the beak. 

 These characters seem at first sight good indications of a 

 cross at some former period with the white-fronted goose 

 {A. albifrons) ; but the white ring is variable in this latter 

 species, and we must not overlook the law of analogous varia- 

 tion ; that is, of one species assuming some of the characters 

 of allied species. 



As the goose has proved so little flexible in its organization 

 under long-continued domestication, the amount of variation 

 which it has undergone may be worth giving. It has increased 

 in size and in productiveness ; 25 and varies from white to a 

 dusky colour. Several observers 26 have stated that the 

 gander is more frequently white than the goose, and that 

 when old it almost invariably becomes white ; but this is not 

 the case with the parent-form, the A. ferus. Here, again, the 

 law of analogous variation may have come into play, as the 

 almost snow-white male of the Hock goose (Bernicla antarctica) 

 standing on the sea- shore by his dusky partner is a sight 

 well known to those who have traversed the sounds of Tierra 

 del Fuego and the Falkland Islands. Some geese have top- 

 knots ; and the skull beneath, as before stated, is perforated. 

 A sub-breed has lately been formed with the feathers reversed 

 at the back of the head and neck. 27 The beak varies a little 

 in size, and is of a yellower tint than in the wild species ; but 



22 Mr. A. Strickland (' Annals and 

 Mag. of Nat. Hist.,' 3rd series, vol. 

 iii. 1859, p. 122) reared some young 

 wild geese, and found them in habits 

 and in all characters identical with 

 the domestic goose. 



23 See also Hunter's ' Essays,' edited 

 by Owen, vol. ii. p. 322. 



24 Yarrell's ' British Birds,' vol. iii. 

 p. 142. 



25 L. Lloyd, ' Scandinavian Adven- 

 tures,' 1854, vol. ii. p. 413, says that 



the wild goose lays from five to eight 

 eggs, which is a much fewer number 

 than that laid by our domestic goose. 



26 The Rev. L. Jenyns seems first 

 to have made this observation in his 

 ' British Animals.' See also Yarrell, 

 and Dixon in his l Ornamental Poul- 

 try ' (p. 139), and ' Gardener's Chroni- 

 cle,' 1857, p. 45. 



27 Mr. Bartlet exhibited the head 

 and neck of a bird thus characterise) 

 before the Zoological Soc, Feb. 1860. 



