409 



DUCKS. 



DUCKS. 



410 



coptirue. " We next," continues Mr. Swainson, " come to the True 

 Geese, forming the genus Ans?r, the typical division of the whole 

 group, and which contains most, if not all, of the usual sub-genera. 

 The Tree Geese (or Ducks, as they have been called) next follow, 

 among which the sub-genus Chenaloplex (Chenalopex ?) will probably 

 6nd a place. Plectropterus is the rasorial genus analogous, by its 

 spur-wings, to the Rallidrr, while the Australian genus C'ereopsis 

 (equally representing the pigeons) appears alone necessary to complete 

 this circle." In his 'Synopsis' Mr. Swainson makes the Anatidie 

 consists of the following sub-families : Phcenicoptina, Anserine!, 

 AnatirMe, Puliyulince, and Merganidte (Merganinse ?). 



The cuts in the preceding page will in some degree illustrate the 

 form of the bill in the Geese : 



The genus A nter has the following characters : Beak not longer 

 than the head, conical, elevated at the base, which is covered with a 

 cere or akin ; under mandible smaller than the upper ; nostrils lateral, 

 placed towards the middle of the beak, pierced anteriorly ; legs under 

 the centre of the body ; the tarsi long, the hind toe free, articulated 

 upon the tarsus. 



A. hyperboreut, Pallas; A.niveus, Brisson, the Snow-Goose. Itappears 

 to be the A . hyperborea of Gmelin ; A . nivalit, Forster ; Snow-Goose 

 of Pennant, Wilson, Bonaparte, and Nuttall ; White Brant of Lawson, 

 Lewis, and Clark ; Wsewteoo, Wapow-Waeoo (the young Catch- 

 catew-Waewaeoo) of the Cree Indians; Kangokh (plur. Kang-oot) 

 of the Esquimaux ; Wavey of the Hudson's Bay residents ; L'Oie 

 Hyperbole, ou de Neige, of the French ; and Schnee-Gaus of the 

 Dutch. 



Sir John Richardson gives the following description of a male 

 Snow-Goose killed at Fort Enterprise, lat. 65, June 1, 1821 : Colour 

 white ; quills pitch-black, their shafts white towards the base ; head 

 glossed with ferruginous ; irkles dark hair-brown ; bill, feet, and 

 orbits, aurora-red ; ungues of both mandibles livid. The ferruginous 

 tint occupies different portions of the head in different individuals, 

 and in some extends to the neck and middle of the belly. An 

 immature bird has a few feathers on the crown and nape, the fore 

 part of the back, ends of the scapulars, some of their coverts, and 

 the outer webs of the tail-feathers, grayish-brown, all tipped and 

 more or less edged with white. Tertiaries and rest of the plumage 

 as in the old bird. Some individuals deviate from the full plumage 

 merely in the bastard wing and primary coverts retaining their gray 

 colour, while in very young birds part of the under plumage is also 

 grayish-brown ; bill shaped much like that of A. albifrmw. 



The Snow-Goose feeds principally on rushes, insects, &c., and in the 

 autumn on berries. The rushes, roots of reeds, and other vegetables 

 it tears up, according to Wilson, from the marshes like the hogs, 

 and here its powerful strongly-serrated bill becomes a most useful 

 instrument. Of the berries, the Crow-Berry (Empetrum niyrum), 

 appears to be the favourite. Sir John Richardson states that this 

 species breeds in the Barren Grounds of Arctic America in great 

 numbers, and that their eggs are of a yellowish-white colour and 

 regularly ovate form, three inches in length, and two inches in their 

 greatest breadth. At the end of August the young fly, and all nave 

 departed southward by the middle of September ; but it is said that 

 the young do not attain the full plumage of the old bird before their 

 fourth year, and until then they appear to keep in separate flocks. 



In common with most of the True Geese, the plumage of the Snow- 

 Goose is available for adding to the comforts of man, and its flesh, 

 when well fed, is excellent. Richardson states it to be far superior 

 to that of the Canada Goose in juiciness and flavour. At the time of 

 their departure southward from Severn Fort in October, Dr. Latham 

 says that many thousands are killed by the inhabitants, who pluck 

 them, and taking out the entrails, put their bodies into holes dug in 

 the ground, covering them with earth, which, freezing above, keeps 

 them perfectly sweet throughout the severe season, during which the 

 inhabitant* occasionally open one of these storehouses, and find the 

 birds untainted and good. In Siberia the same mode of preserving 

 them seema to be practised. 



Nuttall states that the Snow-Goose is common to the north of 

 both continents. He says that early in November they arrive in the 

 river Delaware, and probably visit Newfoundland and the coasts of 

 the Eastern States in the interval, being occasionally seen in Massa- 

 chusetts Bay. They congregate in large flocks, and are very noisy : 

 their note is more shrill than that of the Canada Goose, and they 

 make but a short stay in winter, proceeding farther south as the 

 severity of the weather increases. Prince C. L. Bonaparte notes it 

 as rare and accidental in the winter at Philadelphia. Nuttall further 

 11 marks that the Snow-Geese begin to return towards the north by 

 the middle of February, and until the breaking up of the ice in 

 March are frequently seen in flocks on the shores of the Delaware 

 and around the head of the bay. He observes that they are met 

 with commonly on the western side of America, as at Ooualashka and 

 Kamtvhatka, as well as in the ajstuary of the Oregon, where they 

 were seen by Lewis and Clark. According to Sir John Richardson, 

 they are numerous at Albany Fort, in the southern part of Hudson's 

 Bay, where the old birds are rarely seen ; and, on the other hand, 

 the old birds in their migrations visit York Factory in great abund- 

 ance, but are seldom accompanied by the young. The Snow-Geese, 

 be adds, make their appearance in spring a few days later than the 



Canada Geese, and pass in large flocks both through the interior and 

 on the coast. 



Mr. Gould, who gives a very good figure of the adult in his magni- 

 ficent work on the ' Birds of Europe,' says that the species inhabits 

 all the regions of the arctic circle, but more especially those portions 

 appertaining to North America. From the northern portions of 

 Russia and Lapland, he adds, where it is sparingly diffused, it regu- 

 larly migrates to the eastern portions of Europe, and is occasionally 

 found in Prussia and Austria, but never in Holland. To the polar 

 regions, he concludes, it retires as its congenial locality early in the 

 spring, to perform the duties of incubation and rearing its young. 



A. ferua, the Gray-Lag Goose. The Domestic Goose is the Oye 

 PrivsSe, and the Wild Goose is the Oye Sauvage of Belon ; A nser ferns 

 and Aner of Gesuer and others ; Anser domesticus and Anser palustris 

 noster, Gray Lagg dictus of Ray ; Anas A nser ferus of Latham ; Anas 

 Anser of Linnaeus. It is the Oca (tame), Oca Salvatica, Oca Grossa col 

 Becco Rosso (wild), and Oca Paglietane, of the Italians ; Oie Domes- 

 tique and Oie Sauvage of the French ; Oie Cendre'e ou Premiere of 

 Temminck ; Gaus, Grau Gans, and Wilde Gemeine Gans, of the Ger- 

 mans ; Gaas of the Danes ; Gas and Will Gas of the ' Fauna Suecica ; ' 

 Gwydd of the Welsh, and Goose and Wild Goose of the modern 

 British. 



The Gray-Lag, or common Wild Goose, is the origin of the Domestic 

 Goose of our farm-yards. " It is," says Pennant, " the only species 

 that the Britons could take young and familiarise ; the other two " 

 the White-Fronted Goose (Anser albifront) and the Bean-Goose (Anas 

 segetum, Lath, and Gmel.) are probably the species meant " never 

 breed here, and migrate during the summer." The Gray-Lag Goose, 

 then, and the Domestic Goose, may be considered identical. It is the 

 X^v of the Greeks and Anser of the Romans the same that saved 

 the capitol by its vigilance, and was cherished accordingly. Pliny 

 (lib. x. c. xxii.) speaks of the bird much at length, stating how they 

 were driven from a distance on foot to Rome ; he mentions the value 

 of the feathers of the white ones, and relates that in some places they 

 were plucked twice a year. " Mirum in hac alite, a Morinis usque 

 Romam pedibus venire. Fessi proferuntur ad primes, ita carter! 

 stipatione natural! propellunt eos. Candidorum alterum vectigal in 

 pluma. Velluntur quibusdam locis bis anno. Rursus pluniigeri ves- 

 tiuutur ; molliorque qua; corpori quam proxima, et e Germania lauda- 

 tiasima. Candidi ibi verum minores Ganza; vocantur. Pretium 

 pluma; eorum in libras denarii quiui," &c. 



Though this bird is well known, there has been so much confusion, 

 in consequence of there being three species of wild goose, namely, 

 Anas Anser, Lin., A. (Anser) segelum, and A. (Anser) albifrons, White- 

 Fronted Wild Goose, that it may be as well to give Pennant's descrip- 

 tion. 



" This," writes Pennant, " is our largest species ; the heaviest weigh 

 ten pounds ; the length is 2 feet 9 inches ; the extent 5 feet. The 

 bill is large and elevated, of a flesh-colour tinged with yellow ; the 

 nail white; the head and neck cinereous, mixed with ochraceous 

 yellow ; the hind part of the neck very pale, and at the base of a 

 yellowiBh-brown ; the breast and belly whitish, clouded with gray or 

 ash-colour ; the back gray ; the lesser coverts of the wings almost 

 white, the middle row deep cinereous slightly edged with white ; the 

 primaries gray, tipped with black and edged with white ; the coverts 

 of the tail and the vent-feathers of a pure white ; the middle feathers 

 of the tail dusky, tipped with white, the exterior feathers almost 

 wholly white ; the legs of a flesh colour." 



In its reclaimed state it varies, like most domesticated animals, 

 infinitely ; but it is said always to retain the whiteness of the coverts 

 of the tail and the vent-feathers ; the whiter the plumage, the more 

 it is esteemed. 



The seas, the shores, and the marshes of the oriental countries are 

 the habitation of the Gray-Lag Goose. It rarely advances northward 

 above 53 ; it is abundant in Germany and towards the centre of 

 Europe ; in very small numbers, on its passage, in Holland and France. 

 The domestic races, all sprung from this species, multiply in all coun- 

 tries. (Temminck.) " The Gray-Lag is known to inhabit all the exten- 

 sive marshy districts throughout the temperate portions of Europe 

 generally ; its range northward not extending farther than the fifty- 

 third degree of latitude, while southward it extends to the noithem 

 portions of Africa, eastwanlly to Persia, and, we believe, is generally 

 dispersed over Asia Minor." (Gould, 'Birds of Europe.') Prince 

 Bonap'arte notes it as rather common in winter near Rome. 



Aquatic vegetables and all sorts of seeds are the food of this bird. 

 " The Gray-Lag," says Gould, " assembles in flocks, and, like the bean- 

 goose, seeks the most open and wild districts, often descending upon 

 fields of newly sprung wheat, which, with the blades of fine grasses, 

 trefoil, and grain, constitute its food." Temminck says that the nest 

 is made in heathy spots (bruyires), and in marshes, upon tussocks 

 of rushes and dried herbs; and that the number of eggs is five, six, or 

 eight, rarely twelve or fourteen, of a dirty greenish-white Gould says 

 sullied white. Pennant states that this species resides in the fens the 

 whole year, breeds there, and hatches about eight or nine young, 

 which are often taken, easily made tame, and esteemed most excellent 

 meat, superior to the Domestic Goose. The old goese, which are shot, 

 are, he says, plucked, and sold in the market as fine tame ones, and 

 readily bought, the purchaser being deceived by the size, but their 



