Geese.] 



MUSEUM OF ANIMATED NATURE. 



>1 



the fur countries the work of slaughter again com- 

 mences, the natives attracting the birds within gun- 

 shot range by imitating their call note. "One 

 goose," says Dr. Richardson, " when lat weighs about ■ 

 nine pounds, and is the daily ration for one of the ' 

 company's servants during this season ; it is reckoned j 

 equal to two snow geese, or three ducks, or eight | 

 pounds of buffalo or moose meat, two pounds of ' 

 pemmican, or a pint of maize and four ounces of 

 suet. About three weeks alter their first (vernal) 

 appearance, the Canada geese disperse, in pairs, 

 throughout the country between the 50th and 

 67th parallels to breed, retiring at the same time 

 from the shores of Hudson's Bay. They are seldom 

 or ever seen on the coasts of the Arctic Sea. In 

 July, after the young are hatched, the parents moult, 

 and vast numbers are killed in the rivers and small 

 lakes, when they are unable to fly. When chased 

 by a canoe and obliged to dive frequently, they soon 

 become fatigued, and make for the shore with the 

 intention of hiding themselves, but as. they are not 

 fleet they fall an easy prey to their pursuers. In 

 the autumn they again assemble in flocks on the 

 shores of Hudson's Bay for three weeks or a month 

 previous to their departure southwards." 



The food of the present species consists of tender 

 aquatic herbage and roots, and also marine plants, 

 together with grain and berries. 



The Canada goose has tne head, nearly all the 

 neck, the greater quills, rump, and tail black. Back 

 and wings brown, with a pale edge to each feather. 

 Base of the neck and under plumage white, a few 

 feathers before the edge, and a large throat-mark 

 white. Bill and feet black. 



1994. — The Bean Goose 



(Anser Segetum, Steph.). Anser ferus, Flem. 



The Bean goose or Small Grey goose must not be 

 confounded with the Greylag, the origin of our 

 domestic stock, and from which it may be distin- 

 guished by Its inferior size, and by the form of 

 the bill, which is comparatively shorter, smaller, and 

 more compressed towards the end. Its wings reach 

 even beyond the tail. Moreover, in the bean goose 

 the base of the upper mandible as far as the nos- 

 trils and of the lower, together with the nails of 

 both, are black, the rest of a reddish flesh-colour 

 inclining to orange, whereas the bill of the grey- 

 lag is of an orange red, with the nail of a greyish 

 white. 



The bean goose is a native of the high northern 

 regions, and the range of country within the arctic 

 circle ; whence in the autumn it migrates south- 

 wards, and is well known as a regular winter visitant 

 to our islands, arriving about the beginning of Oc- 

 tober. The flocks have their respective feeding 

 districts or haunts, to which, as Mr. Selby has satis- 

 factorily determined, they invariably return ; their 

 flight, except during stormy weather, is generally 

 at a great elevation, and extremely rapid. The 

 birds fly either in a diagonal line, or form two sides 

 of an acute triangle, and during their aerial progress 

 maintain an incessant cackle, the voices of the two 

 sexes being easily distinguished. During the day, 

 the flocks resort to the upland grounds and open 

 lands, feeding on the tender wheat, and also upon 

 clover and other herbage. In the early part of the 

 spring they visit the fields newly sown with beans 

 and peas, and greedily devour as much as they find 

 scattered about, or can dislodge ; on the approach 

 of evening they retire to the water, or to some bar 

 of sand, at a little distance from the shore, where 

 they have a fiee range of vision all around, and no 

 enemy can steal unobserved upon them. They are 

 extremely watchful and vigilant, and it is only by 

 stratagem that the sportsman can come upon them 

 vfithin gunshot. The best plan is to lie in wait for 

 them when they make their early morning visit 

 to the feeding grounds wliich they habitually fre- 

 quent. 



The bean goose is said to breed on some of the 

 outermost Western islands in considerable numbers, 

 making in the marshy grounds a nest of dried grasses 

 and other vegetables ; the eggs are terf or twelve in 

 number. 



The bean goose is much more common in our 

 island than the greylag, at lea^t in the present day : 

 for formerly the greylag was not only numerous, 

 but a permanent resident, breeding in the fenny 

 counties, from which the process of draining, and 

 an increase of population, have almost entirely 

 banished it. For the description of a recently de- 

 termined species, the Pink-footed goose, closely 

 allied to the bean goose, see ' Proceeds. Zool. Soc' 

 1839, p. 3. It is the Anser phoenicopus of Mr. 

 Bartlett. 



1995, 1996.— The Bernicle Goose 



{Anser Bernicla). The Bernicle, together with a 

 closely allied species, the Brent goose (Anser 

 Brenta), are both natives of the high northern lati- 

 tudes, both of Europe and America, and in autumn 

 migrate southwards , they visit our islands during 

 Vol. II. 



the winter; the bernicle goose resorts to the western 

 shores of Britain and the north of Ireland, and is 

 abundant on the coast of Lancashire and in the Sol way 

 Frith ; while the brent goose chiefly haunts the 

 eastern and southern shores of Britain, and abounds 

 on the Northumbrian cost. Both species are very 

 shy and wary, and can only be approached by means 

 of the most cautious manoeuvres. They Irequent 

 marshy ground covered with spring-tides, feeding 

 upon sea-shore grasses, the trends of various algae, 

 and particularly of the laver. 



The bernicle breeds in Iceland, Spitzber'gen, 

 Greenland, Lapland, the north of Russia and of 

 Asia, and the neighbourhood of Hudson's Bay. It 

 is of handsome form, and, from the length of the 

 tarsi, stands high on the limbs ; its flesh is very ex- 

 cellent. 



As the bernicle or bernacle goose and the brent 

 goose have till recently been confounded together, 

 the fabulous origin attributed to the one involves 

 that of the other also. It is strange that in matters 

 concerning the maivellous, even men of education 

 will take pains to deceive themselves, and, instead 

 of investigating nature with a "learned spirit," give 

 'a licence to ill directed imagination, and credit ab- 

 surdities. When such men are so credulous, how 

 can we wonder at the superstitions of the illiterate? 



The first phase of the story in question is, that 

 certain trees, resembling willows, more particularly 

 in one of the Orkneys, Pomona, produced at the 

 ends of their branches small swelled Oalls, containing 

 the embryo of a duck suspended by the bill, which, 

 when ripe, fell otf into the sea and took wing. 

 Munster, Saxo Grammaticus, Scaliger, Fulgosus, 

 Bishop Leslie, and Olaus Magnus, all attested to 

 the truth of this monstrous absurdity. Gesner, 

 Johnston, and Aldrovand may be also cited. Fig. 

 1997 is a copy of the bernacle goose-tree, from 

 Aldrovand, displaying the pendent fruit, in due 

 time to undergo their wonderful transformation. 



A second phase or modification of the story is 

 that given by Boiice, the oldest Scottish historian : he 

 denies that the geese (Scottice, Claiks) grow on trees 

 by their bills, as some believe, but that, as his own 

 researches and personal experience prove, they are 

 first produced in the form of worms, in the substance 

 of old trees or timber floating in the sea ; for such 

 a tree, cast on shore in 1480, was brought to the 

 laird, who ordered it to be sawn asunder, when there 

 appeared a multitude of worms, " throwing them- 

 selves out of sundry holes and bores of the tree ; 

 some of them were rude, as they were new-shapen; 

 some had both head, feet, and wings, but they had 

 no feathers ; some of them were perfect shapen 

 fowls. At last the people, having this tree each 

 day in more admiration, brought it to the kirk of 

 St. Andrew's, beside the town of Tyre, where it yet 

 remains to our days." Other instances he adduces 

 by way of proof, and at length he comes to the 

 conclusion, that the production of these geese from 

 fruits is the erroneous opinion of the ignorant ; it 

 being ascertained that " they are produced only by 

 the nature of the ocean sea, which is the cause and 

 production of many wonderful things." In this 

 view he was supported by Turner and others: 

 " When," says Turner, "at a certain time an old 

 ship, or a plank , or a pine-mast rots in the sea, some- 

 thing like a little fungus at first makes its appear- 

 ance, which at length puts on the manifest form of 

 birds ; afterwards these are clothed with feathei-s, 

 and at last become living and flying fowl." (' Avium 

 Prsecip. Hist.,' art. ' Anser.') Turner, however, does 

 not give up the goose-tree, but informs Gesner that 

 it is a different bird from the brent or bernicle goose, 

 which takes its origin from it. (Gesner ' De Avibus,' 

 iii., p. 107, &c.) Passing a host of other authori- 

 ties, with their accumulated proofs, and the deposi- 

 tions of unimpeachable witnesses, we may come to 

 Gerard, who, in 1G36, published in his ' Herbalist ' a 

 detailed account as follows: — 



" But what our eyes have seen and hands have 

 touched we shall declare. There is a small island 

 in Lancashire, called the Pile of Foulders, wherein 

 are found the broken pieces of old and bruised ships, 

 some whereof have been cast thither by shipwracke, 

 and also the trunks and bodies with the branches of 

 old and rotten trees, cast up there likewise ; vyhereon 

 is found a certaine spume, or froth, that in time 

 breedeth into certaine shels, in shape like those of 

 the muskle, but sharper pointed, and of a whitish 

 colour: wherein is contained a thing in form like a 

 lace of silke finely woven, as it were, together, of a 

 whitish colour ; one end whereof is fastened into 

 the inside of the shell, even as the fish of oisters and 

 muskles are ; the other end is made fast unto the 

 belly of a rude masse or lumpe, which in time com- 

 meth to the shape and form of a bird : when it is 

 perfectly formed the shell gapeth open, and the 

 first thing that appeareth is the foresaid lace or 

 string ; next come the legs of the bird hanging out, 

 and as it groweth greater it openeth the shell by de- 

 grees, till at length it is all come forth and hangeth 

 only by the bill : in short space after it commeth to 



full maturitie, and falleth into the sea, where it 

 gathereth feathers, and groweth to a fowle bii;ger 

 than a mallard and lesser than a goose, havine 

 blacke legs and bill or beake, and feathers bla^ke 

 and white, spotted in such manner as is our mng- 

 pie, called in some places a pie-annet, which the 

 people of Lancashire call by no other name than a 

 tree-goose ; which place aforesaid, and all those 

 parts adjoining, do so much abound therewith, that 

 one of the best is bought for three pence. For the 

 truth hereof, if any doubt, may it please them to re- 

 paire unto me, and I shall satisfie them by the testi- 

 monie of good witnesses." 



Fig. 1998 represents the illustration given by 

 Gerard of this account. It is apparently intended 

 for a log of wood rising out of the sea crowned with 

 these goosebeaiing shells. 



We must not suppose that there vrere none who 

 doubted this marvel. Belon, who wrote in 1551, 

 and others, treated it with ridicule ;_ and in Ray's 

 ' Willughby,' published in 1678, we find a refutation 

 of it, only with an admission of spontaneous gene- 

 ration among certain animals of the lower orders. 



What, it may be asked, were the marine animals 

 supposed to be the origin of this goose ? Simply 

 those singular shell-covered cirrhipedous creatures 

 supported on, or rather attached, often in thousands, 

 to floating timber by means of long flexible worm- 

 like stalks or peduncles. They are known by the 

 name of Bernacles, or Bernicles (Pentelasmis ana- 

 tifera, Leach; Lepas Anatifera, Linn.). The body of 

 these curious creatures is enclosed in a shell not 

 unlike that of a muscle, but composed of five por- 

 tions, one a dorsal stripe : along the interior margin 

 the valves are but partially connected by a mem- 

 brane, leaving a large fissure, through which emerge 

 the ciliated arms or cirrhi, plumose and jointed. 

 The colour of the shell is pale purplish blue. Of 

 these animals we shall hereafter have occasion to 

 speak more particularly. We present a representa- 

 tion of them at Fig. 1999. How it came to pass 

 that the absurd tradition we have briefly detailed 

 arose, is beyond our conjecture. 



To return to the bernicle goose (for so it is still 

 called), its weight is about five pounds; the bill is 

 black with a reddish streak on each side ; the 

 cheeks and throat, with the exception of a black 

 line from the eye to the beak, white ; head, neck, 

 and shoulders, black ; upper plumage marbled with 

 blue, grey, black, and white. Tail black ; under 

 parts white ; legs dusky. We may here refer to the 

 figures of the bill of various species of goose, pre- 

 sented in order that the differences of form assumed 

 may be the more easily compared together. Fig. 

 2000 represents the Bill of the Snow Goose (Anser 

 hyperboreus). Fig. 2001, the Bill of the Greylag, 

 already described. Fig. 2(X)2, the figure of the Bill 

 of the Egyptian Goose (Chenalopex jEgyptiacus). 

 Fig. 2003, the Bill of the Bernicle Goose. Fig. 2004, 

 the Bill of the Cereopsis Goose (Cereopsis Novae 

 Hollandise). 



2005. — The Egyptian Goose 



{Chenalopex ^gyptiacus.) The Egyptian Goose 

 is abundant along the banks of the Nile, and is dis- 

 tributed over the continent of Africa generally. It 

 also visits the southern shores of Europe, and is not 

 uncommonly seen in Sicily. According to Tem- 

 minck it was this species which was held in venera- 

 tion by the ancient Egyptians, and of which figures 

 are frequently observed among the monumental 

 remains of that extraordinary nation. The author 

 of 'Egyptian Antiquities,' vol. ii. p. 311 (' Library 

 of Entertaining Knowledge '), also observes that the 

 chenalopex of Herodotus, still very common in Egypt, 

 is of frequent occurrence on the sculptures, though, 

 as he says, it was not a sacred bird, unless it may have 

 some claims to that honour from having been a fa- 

 vourite article of food for the priests. "A place in 

 upper Egypt had its name Chenobosciura or Che- 

 noboscia (goose-pens) from these animals being fed 

 there, probably for sale.'" There is good reason, 

 however, to believe that the ordinary common goose 

 was kept, as well as the chenalopex. The ancients 

 regarded the eggs of this species as second in flavour 

 only to those of the pea-fowl. yElian mentions the 

 bird, and notices its cunning and wariness. Hence 

 the word xi''«^<>"")?' f''o™ xn^, a goose, and d\tinst)t, 

 a fox. The Egyptian goos-e is often kept because 

 of its beauty in a semi-domesticated state on orna- 

 mental sheets of water, both in our country and on 

 the continent, and in that condition it breeds freely ; 

 hence it happens that the young when fledged often 

 take wing, and wandering about on rivers or lakes, 

 are shot : a circumstance, as Mr. Gould observes, 

 which Occurs yearly. The habits of this goo»e 

 closely resemble those of the rest of the tribe. The 

 bill is long, slender, and nearly straight, rounded at 

 the tip ; the upper mandible is slightly curved, and 

 the nail hooked ; refer to Fig. 2002. The tarsi are 

 elongated ; the neck is long and slender ; the general 

 contour compact. 



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