ANATID. A57 
be the original of our tame Geese. On this subject 
Yarrell says that at one of the shows of Domestic 
Poultry and Water-fowl held at the Zoological 
Gardens in 1845, there was a fine specimen of the 
Greylag Goose exhibited, and next to him a pair of 
domestic Geese, and that it was obvious the 
domestic birds were derived from the Greylag. 
“The pinky flesh-colour of the beak and the white 
nail; the distribution of the markings of the 
plumage generally; the large blue-grey space on 
the anterior portion of the wing; the flesh-colour 
of the legs and feet; and the voice were alike in 
both.” The white and speckled Geese one sees 
about in our commons and poultry-yards may easily 
be accounted for, as all birds seem to vary in the 
colour of their plumage under domestication, espe- 
cially towards white: in this case the tendency to 
variation has probably been increased by a cross 
with the Bean Goose and Whitefronted Goose; 
artificial selection has also probably had something 
to do with it, as, white feathers being the more 
valuable, the whitest birds have probably for a very 
long period been selected to breed from; but in spite 
of these various reasons for divergence, the Goose 
has differed less than most domesticated species 
from the original stock.* 
* Darwin’s ‘ Animals and Plants under Domestication,’ 
vol. 1. 
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