59 = 



THE BOOK OF POULTRY. 



of farm-yards are generally descended from half- 

 bred stock, and some of them are very fine. 



The Chinese or African goose (Anser 

 cygnoides) has also been termed the Hong Kong 

 goose and Knobbed goose, and some birds have 



been written of as Spanish geese, 

 The Chinese which appear to have had the 

 01 African same general characteristics. It was 



classed by Cuvier actually with the 

 swans, which it resembles in the longer and more 

 slender neck, and the knobbed bill, also in the 

 neck feathers being smooth and not curled as 

 in the two preceding varieties ; and it has been 

 recorded on two or three occasions (on rather 

 doubtful authority, but the gander is such an 





/ 



African (jeet* 



itrdent breeder that it is not unlikely) to have 

 produced swan hybrids. But that it is a true 

 goose is proved by not only its domestic habits 

 and prolificacy, and the number of its vertebras 

 (sixteen), but by the fact that it breeds freely 

 with other geese, and that the produce is fertile 

 and not a hybrid ; the common goose of India 

 being, as Mr. Blyth pointed out long ago, a cross 

 between the Chmese and the ordinary domestic 

 race known to us. This immemorial crossing, in 

 India and elsewhere, is the explanation of differ- 

 ences that seem to have puzzled some writers in 

 America, between the " African " goose as there 

 known, and their smaller Chinese. 



The original Chinese variety ranges over all 

 China, much of Siberia, and most of India, but 

 chiefly northern India. In size it is midway 

 between the wild goose and the swan, but con- 



siderably less than our large domestic geese. 

 The neck is long and slender, but the head 

 rather large for the bird, with a knob or protuber- 

 ance much like that of a swan at the base of the 

 upper bill, and a heavy dewlap under the throat 

 The usual colour is brownish grey on back and 

 upper parts, passing into light grey or almost 

 white underneath, the breast and front of neck a 

 yellowish grey, and a dark brown stripe running 

 all down the back of the neck : in this colour the 

 knob is generally black, the bill orange or dark 

 brown, or even black, the legs orange. There 

 are also white birds, which have orange knob 

 and bill ; in these also there is a stripe behind 

 the neck which, although white, is more glossy, 

 and different in appearance from the other 

 plumage. 



This Chinese race is very prolific, laying 



twenty to thirty eggs in a sitting, and 



several sittings in a year, the eggs being 



about two-thirds the size of those laid 



by fine ordinary geese. The breed is 



/ very hardy and easily reared, and the 



/ flesh of very delicate quality ; but it is 



not so domestic in habits as the European 



geese, and rather fond of swimming at 



^ night. It has a harsh and peculiar cry, 



the most shrill amongst any of the true 



geese known in domestication. 



The " African " goose, as known in 

 America, is stated by American writers 

 to have come from either India or Africa, 

 and is considered by most of them to be a 

 distinct " pure" variety. It is very much 

 larger than that just described, adults 

 weighing as much as 24 lbs. for ganders, 

 and 19 lbs. for geese, and being described 

 by Mr. Cushman and others as actually 

 the largest of all the geese. It is stand- 

 ardised at the same weights as the 

 Embden and Toulouse ; but the standard 

 American weights for these are only 20 lbs. 

 and 18 lbs. for the two sexes, which is far 

 less than in England. All the known facts and 

 circumstances point to the conclusion that this 

 African goose of America is originally simply 

 a cross of the Chinese with the domestic goose, 

 and especially with the Toulouse. During the 

 last thirty years Africa has been opened up 

 in all directions — north, south, east, and west 

 — as it never was before, but no wild goose re- 

 sembling this breed has ever been found. It 

 probably did come from India, where such crosses 

 have existed for generations ; and it is even quite 

 likely that some of these Indian biids may have 

 been carried to East and South Africa by the 

 coolies and Banian traders who have visited 

 those districts so largely ; but every single point 



