376 GOOSE 
the Bernacle-Goose is easily distinguished by its larger size and 
white cheeks. Hutchins’s Goose, b. hutchinsi, seems to be its true 
representative in the New World. In this the face is dark, but a 
white crescentic or triangular patch extends from the throat on 
either side upwards behind the eye. Almost exactly similar in 
coloration to the last, but greatly superior in size, and possessing 
18 rectrices, while all the foregoing have but 16, is the common 
wild Goose of America, B. canadensis, which, for some two centuries 
or more, has been introduced into Europe, where it propagates so 
freely that it has been included by nearly all the ornithologists of 
this quarter of the globe as a member of its fauna. An allied 
form, by some deemed a species, is b. leucopareia, which ranges over 
the western part of North America, and, though having 18 rectrices, 
is distinguished by a white collar round the lower part of the neck. 
The most diverse species of this group of Geese are the beautiful 
B. ruficollis, a native of North-eastern Asia, which has occasionally 
strayed to Egypt! and Western Europe, and has been obtained 
more than once in Britain, and that which is peculiar to the 
Hawaiian archipelago, B. sandvicensis. 
The largest living Goose is that called the Chinese, Guinea, or 
Swan-Goose, Cygnopsis cygnoides, and it seems to be the stock 
whence the domestic Geese of several Eastern countries have 
sprung. It may not unfrequently be seen in English farmyards, 
and it is found to cross readily with our common tame Goose, the 
offspring being fertile, and Blyth has said that these crosses are very 
abundant in India. The true home of the species is in Eastern 
Siberia or Mongolia. It is distinguished by its upright bearing, 
which has been well rendered by Bewick’s figure. ‘The Ganders of 
the reclaimed form are distinguished by the knob at the base of the 
bill, but the evidence of many observers shews that this is not found 
in the wild race. Of this bird there is a perfectly white breed. 
Lastly must be mentioned the curious form CEREOPSIS, with its 
apparently exaggerated ally the extinct Cnemiornis of New Zealand, 
a bird of great size and, as said before (p. 82), unable from the 
shortness of its wings to fly. In connexion with this loss of power 
may also be noted the dwindling of the keel of the sternum. 
Birds of the genera Chenalopex (the Egyptian and Orinoco 
Geese), Plectropterus, Sarcidiornis, Chlamydochen, and some others, 
are commonly called Geese. To the writer it seems almost certain 
that they are allied to the SHELD-DRAKE. The males of all appear to 
have that curious enlargement at the junction of the bronchial 
tubes and the trachea which is so characteristic of the Ducks or 
Anatine and is wanting in the Anserine or true Geese. As much 
may be said for the genus Nettapus. 
1 Its portraits are recognizable in what is said to be one of the oldest pictures 
in the world see (INTRODUCTION). 
