662 



GOOSE. 



is a small species, not exceeding 1 a foot in length ; and 

 it partakes a little of the characters of a duck. 



COROMANDF.L GOOSE (A. Coromandeliand). This 

 is a still smaller species, not being above eleven inches 

 in length, and it is possible that it may be only a 

 climatal variety of the former. The upper part is 

 blackish brown, with faint green reflections ; the base 

 of the bill is surrounded with small white feathers ,- 

 the top of the head is dusky with green reflections ; 

 and the back of the neck is spotted with the same 

 colour oil a sand-coloured ground ; the cheeks, the 

 front of the neck, and the under parts are pure white ; 

 the quills are dusky with white tips ; the bill is black, 

 and the under sides of the toes dull yellow. Those 

 parts which have green reflections in the male are 

 dusky brown in the female. 



THE CHINESE GOOSE (A. Cygnoides). This 

 species is not called cygnoides, or swan-like, from any 

 actual resemblance that it has to a swan in any other 

 respect than in colour ; and that is not constant, for 

 though it is sometimes entirely white, it is subject to 

 great variety of colour. Though specimens have 

 been brought from China, it is perhaps not very cor- 

 rectly styled the Chinese goose, inasmuch as it is 

 found in many other parts of the south-eastern world, 

 from China to the Cape of Good Hope, and as it is 

 said, from New Zealand, though it does not appear 

 to be met with in New Holland. 



Several other species of southern geese are men- 

 tioned as being found on the Falkland Islands, on 

 Terra del Fuego, and some other places of the 

 southern lands ; there have also been others brought 

 from South America ; but all these are too little 

 known, we are too little acquainted with the migra- 

 tions of birds in the southern hemisphere, and those 

 migrations are in themselves on so small a scale com- 

 pared with the migrations in the north, that all that 

 could be said about those birds would be little else 

 than a description of colours. There are, however, 

 some other species which require a brief notice, be- 

 cause they deviate in some respects from the typical 

 characters of the genus. 



Those species which deviate from the proper cha- 

 racter of the geese in many points, but which still 

 essentially retain that character in others, may be 

 divided into two sections : First, those which form a 

 sort of intermediate link between the geese and the 

 swans ; and, secondly, those which form a similar 

 link between the geese and the wading birds, more 

 especially the crane family, or perhaps the herons. 

 We shall take them in the order now stated, without 

 being very particular as to the correctness of the 

 names, because though we are not quite satisfied with 

 the existing ones, we do not feel ourselves called 

 upon to contrive new ones, as our object is not to 

 make systems but to give useful information. 



THE GAMBIA GOOSE (A. Gambensis). This spe- 

 cies is originally from the banks of the river Gambia, 

 in Western Africa, and, besides the name which we 

 have given it, it is called the spur-winged goose. It [ 

 :s about the size of the wild goose, but its legs are 

 stronger and longer, and it is, altogether, more of a 

 walking bird. Its bill and feet are of a reddish yellow 

 colour, and the basal part of the upper mandible of 

 the bill is furnished with a double tubercle ; the crown 

 of the head and the neck are wood brown ; the ear- 

 coverts and sides of the throat are white, mottled 

 with brown ; the lower part of the neck, the sides of 

 the breast, and all the upper part, are black in certain 



light.?, but in other lights the black disappears, and 

 Ihey show the most brilliant iridescent reflections of 

 green and bronze. This rich play of colour is most 

 conspicuous in the scapular feathers and in the quills 

 next the body, but the margins of all the feathers on 

 the upper part partake of the same. The turn of the 

 wing, from the bastard-wing inward to the elbow 

 joint, is white ; and on the wrist joint, at the origin 

 of the bastard wing, or the turn of the wing, as it is 

 usually called, there is a strong white spur of a horny 

 texture, inclining upwards and inwards. All the 

 under part of the bird is white. This seems to be a 

 very discursive species ; for, though there is no doubt 

 that Western Africa is its western locality, it has 

 been found as an exceedingly rare straggler in the 

 British islands, and a specimen was shot near St. 

 Germains, in Cornwall, in the summer of 1821. The 

 fact of finding a tropical bird, which is not usually a 

 migrant in England, during the summer, is somewhat 

 curious, though it accords with the general habit of 

 birds which do not winter with us, but yet come re- 

 gularly. Of the habits of this very handsome bird, 

 in its native country, we know little ; neither do we 

 know with precision to which of the species of geese 

 that we know better we can connect it with the 

 closest affinity. Probably the Egyptian goose is the 

 nearest, and it also is an African species, remarkable 

 for its beauty, and having a tubercle, though not a 

 spur, on the turn of the wing. This one is usually 

 considered as one of those which have a slight ap- 

 proximation to the swans, but in what this approxima- 

 tion consists, has not been clearly made out. Cuvier, 

 however, places it in that division ; and we may 

 remark, that Buffbn, Latham, and some others, have 

 confounded it with the Egyptian goose. 



THE SWAN GOOSE (A. Cygnoides) is certainly in- 

 termediate iu appearance between the swans and the 

 geese ; and it is usually described as a swan, al- 

 though, as Cuvier mentions, it domesticates, and 

 even breeds with common geese in farm-yards, so 

 that it lives much more upon the land than in the 

 water, and has the habits of the geese, and not those 

 of the swans. It is by no means a rare bird in 

 Western Africa ; and it has been, to a considerable 

 extent, domesticated in France. The following is 

 the description of it : This bird is rather more than 

 three feet in length, and of a size between the swan 

 and the common goose. It is distinguished from 

 others of the goose tribe by its majestic walk and 

 long neck, by having a large knob on the base of 

 the upper mandible, and a skin (almost bare of 

 feathers) hanging down like a pouch or a wattle un- 

 der the throat ; awhile line or fillet is extended from 

 the corners of the mouth over the front brow ; the 

 base of the bill is orange ; irides reddish brown ; a 

 dark brown or black stripe runs down the hinder 

 part of the neck from the head to the back ; the 

 fore part of the neck and the breast are yellowish 

 brown ; the back, and all the upper parts, brownish 

 grey, edged with a lighter colour ; the side*, and the 

 feathers which cover the thighs, are clouded with 

 nearly the same colours as the back, and edged with 

 white ; the belly white ; and the legs are of an 

 orange-colour. These birds, it is said, were found 

 only in Guinea ; they are now become pretty com- 

 mon in a wild, as well as a domesticated state, both 

 in warm and cold climates. The female is of inferior 

 size to the male ; the head, neck, and breast, are 

 fawn-coloured, the upper part being somewhat paler ; 



