82 THE IMPORTANCE OF BIRD LIFE 



Toulouse goose, the Emden, and the African 

 breeds from Europe, and two small Chinese vari- 

 eties, the brown and the white, from the Orient, 

 with one or two other varieties- of minor impor- 

 tance. The native Canada goose shows signs of 

 reacting to domestication, and the time may not 

 be far distant when new breeds of this species 

 will be produced. 



8 

 The Domestic Duck 



Next in importance to the goose is the duck. 

 With the exception of the Moscovy duck of South 

 America, all our breeds have descended from a 

 single world-wide species, the mallard. Like the 

 red jungle fowl, this bird responds to domestica- 

 tion by wide divergence from the original. 



So great has been the breadth of variation that 

 it is difficult to believe all our domestic forms 

 arose from a single parent type. Darwin divided 

 them into four great structural breeds: (1) 

 the common domestic duck, in which are included 

 the Pekin, Rouen, the tufted duck of Holland, 

 and the Labrador; (2) the hook-billed duck, an 

 ancient breed and an excellent layer, first observed 

 in 1676; (3) the call duck, small and noisy; and 

 (4) the penguin duck, which probably originated 

 in the Malayan archipelago and is now known as 



