280 Agricultural Gazette of N.S.JF. [April 2, 1908. 



u liiri,'!' knnl) at tlic Ivisc of tlic upper inanclible, ;uul a pmicli-liko appenflaijf^ 

 uiidci- tlir Inwrr iii.i IK lihlc, ul the I ■]) i)f' the tliroat. 'I'licrc is a wliite line 

 t'xteiHiiiiL; alf)ML;- tVoni the base of the skull, and cinit inurd Itchind the frontal 

 knol). which is hiack, \\l:ile tlu' colnur lu'luw and ncaiU' suiiDundin^' it is 

 orange. A dark hiown or nearly Mack stripe runs down the hark part of 

 the neck from the head to the hack ; the foi'e jiart of the neck and hreast are 

 a dun colour, and tlie other uppn- ]»aits hrqwiiishgrey, edged with a lighter 

 coloui'. The under paits are white, and the*legs yellow or a sootv hrown. 

 'Jhe heaviest specimens of this hreeil, when full grown, weigh about 14 lb. 



There is also a w hi i(> ( 'hi nese gocse, possessing a carriage of its own. and 

 lias been described as the most beautiful of a'l the domesticated g(jose familv. 

 Tn their- motions thev are pai'ticularly graceful, and their l(»ng necks and 

 well formed bodies add to their beauty, which is eidianced bv the jiure white 

 plumage and the bi'illiant orange-red of their bill and knob. The white are- 

 somewhat laiger than the coloured Chinese goose, but it does not lay so many 

 eggs. l>oth \aiietieN |ia\e a lathei' shrill, iiaish \ oice, more noisy and 

 disagreeable than that of the Toulouse oi- I'jididen. 



CjrAPTKK III. 



Geese in Australia. 



There are <pn"te <i lunnbei- of \arieties of geese otliei' than thos ■ mentioned, 

 viz., p]gyj)tian, Sebastopol. hanubiaii, Canadian, IJussian, kc, but as we 

 have none of these in Australia detaihd descrijition is unnece.-sary, pai'ticu- 

 larly as none of them are of much \alue for jnotit making. 



So far as Australia is concerned very few puic breeds are stocked, and 

 those now Vjred are largely a mixture of Einhden and Toulouse, and furtlier 

 crosses with the Cape, the latter being br(>d in moderate numbers on account 

 of their better laying (jualitie.s, but all, wliei'e\cr kept or bred, are of small 

 size, mere bantams in relation to the standard weights of the Toulouse or 

 Embden. 



We are not told exactly how- mai;y geese arrived by the first fleet, but 

 from a return taken three, months after landing, the poidtry had increased to 

 I'tS turkeys, .■!.") ducks, 142 fowls, 87 chickens, and 2i) geese. 



That the feathered stock increased considerably can be assumed fiom the 

 fact that in ITOH tl ere were regular marki't (|uotations for all animals and 

 produce, and while wheat was 12.s. per bushel, tloui' 7.',d.. mutton 2s. per lb., 

 jiork Is. fid., atid butter os., full-grown fowls and (hu'ks were hut os., and 

 geese and turkeys 21s. each, and eggs 2s. per dozen. The prices cf j)Oultry 

 it will he seen were then very little in excess of what they are now, evidencing 

 the excellence of the climate foi' jioulti'v breeding. The hiyh <|Uotations for 

 other stock show that they multi]ilied less freely than the poultrv. 



Captain ^lacarthur. writing to a friend in Tlnglaiid, about the i-auie time, 

 describing his stock, added, ''Poultry of all kinds I have in abundance." 

 Indeed, the abundance of the poultry was so great that the following yeiir, 

 1797, they were omitted fiom the stock returns of the State, the omission 



