MALE AFRICAN GOOSE 
The name of this breed is a misnomer, for it is really founded on the Chinese goose, a distinct 
species which has the honor of being the largest of all wild geese. The Chinese species 
interbreeds freely with others, and the breed known as African contains varying propor- 
tions of gray-lag ancestry. The plumage of the bird here shown indicates that the 
Toulouse goose may be not a remote ancestor; the peculiar fleshy protuberance at the 
top of the beak is a characteristic of domesticated forms of the Chinese species, although 
it does not appear in the wild birds. The black stripe down the back of the neck is char- 
acteristic of the species. Photograph from United States Department of Agriculture. 
(Fig. 13.) 
