AQUATIC FOWL. 137 



downwards ; the upper part of the plumage is of a deep brown, 

 mixed with ash-gray ; each feather is lighter on the edges, and 

 the less coverts are tipped with white ; the shafts of the primary 

 quills are white, the webs gray, and the tops black ; the secon- 

 daries black, edged with white; the breast and belly are crossed and 

 clouded with dusky and ash, on a whitish ground, and the tail- 

 coverts and vent are of a snowy whiteness; the middle feathers of 

 the tail are dusky, tipped with white, those adjoining more deeply 

 tipped, and the exterior are nearly all white ; legs, pale red. 

 When they bred in the fens, the flesh of their young was preferred 

 to that of our domestic geese, but population and cultivation have 

 driven them entirely from our shores. 



THE DOMESTIC GOOSE 



Is the next I shall take in order, as springing from the above, 

 and introduce a recent importation from the Mediterranean, which 

 bids fair to be the favourite of our farm-yards, from its extraordi- 

 nary size, fine flavour, and inclination to put up flesh ; it is 



THE TOULOUSE GOOSE. 



The annexed print has been copied from the Illustrated London 

 News, of 21st June, 1845, drawn for that publication, from my 

 birds ; it makes a record of their having twice taken the prize in 

 London, in competition with all England, Ireland, and Scotland. 



Some fine specimens of these birds have been recently intro- 

 duced by the Earl of Derby, and is indiscriminately known as the 

 Mediterranean, Pyrenean, or Toulouse goose, and from size and 

 quality of flesh, found a most valuable addition to our stock. I 

 have been fortunately favoured with a few specimens, and have 

 successfully bred them, and forwarded the above pair to the Lon- 

 don Zoological Society's show, in 1845, to which was awarded 

 their first premium. They were sold to Lord Saye and Sele. In 

 1846, I again forwarded a pair for exhibition, and again took the 

 London prize, and sold them to his Highness Ibrahim Pacha, who 

 thought them worthy of being carried with him to Egypt. With 

 the exception of their great size, they resemble our common do- 

 mestic geese, but of a much more mild and easy disposition ; and 

 what is most important to the farmer, they never pull the stacks, 

 in a haggard. Their prevailing colour is a blue gray, marked 

 with brown bars ; the head, neck (as far as the beginning of the 

 breast), and the back of the neck, as far as the shoulders, of a 



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