274 



Errarfttrg flf Natural 



dots on the back. It feeds on the buckthorn 

 (Ulunnnits catharticus). The pupa, or chry- 

 salis, is green, very gibbous in the middle, 

 and acuminated before : it is vertically sus- 

 pended on a perpendicular branch, with a 

 loose silken thread round it. 



GONOPLAX, or ANGLED CRAB. A 



genus of decapod short-tailed Crustacea, of 

 which one species is found in this country : 

 it is the G. angulata of authors, the young 

 of which has been described as a species of 

 Gelasimus. In the male the fore legs' are 

 very long. For figures of this species see 

 Dr. Leach's work, or that of Professor Bell, 

 " The British Crustacea." 



GOOSE. A genus of webfooted birds. The 

 Common WILD GOOSE (Anserfertis\ other- 

 wise called the GREY LAG GOOSE, being the 

 origin of our domestic species, we shall de- 

 scribe it first in order, after having made a' 

 few observations on the distinguishing cha- 

 racters of the genus. The bill is the first great 

 distinction of the Goose kind from all the fea- 

 thered tribes. In other birds it is round and 

 weged-shaped, or crooked at the end ; in 

 all the Goose kind it is flat and broad, formed 

 for the purpose of skimming ponds and lakes 

 of the mantling weeds which grow on their 

 surface. The bills of other birds are com- 

 posed of a horny substance throughout, 

 formed for piercing or tearing ; but birds of 



genus 

 ithed w: 



have their inoffensive beaks 

 ith a skin which entirely covers 



them ; and are only adapted for shovelling 

 up their food, which is chiefly confined to 

 vegetable productions ; for though they do 

 not reject animal food when offered to them, 

 they contentedly subsist on vegetable, and 

 seldom seek any other. 



The GREY LAG, or COMMON WILD GOOSE, 

 as Pennant remarks, is our largest species ; 

 the heaviest weigh ten pounds ; the length 

 is two feet nine inches ; the extent five 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 



coverts of the tail and the vent feathers of a 

 pure white ; the breast and belly crossed 

 and clouded with dusky and ash on a 

 whitish ground ; the middle leathers of the 

 tail dusky, tipped with white, the exterior 

 ones almost wholly white : the legs of a 

 flesh-colour. This species is widely and 

 numerously spread over all the more north- 

 erly parts of the globe, whence some flocks 

 of them migrate a long way southward in 

 the winter. Latham says, they seem to be 

 general inhabitants of the world, are met 

 with from Lapland to the Cape of Good 

 Hope, are frequent in Arabia, Persia, and 

 China, as well as indigenous to Japan, 

 and on the American continent from Hud- 

 son's Bay to South Carolina. As for their 

 summer residences and breeding-places, the 

 lakes, swamps, and dreary morasses of 

 Siberia, Lapland, Iceland, and the unfre- 

 quented northern regions of America seem 

 set apart for that purpose, where, with mul- 

 titudes of other kinds, in undisturbed secu- 

 rity, they rear their young, and are amply 

 provided with a variety of food, a large por- 

 tion of which must consist of the larvae of 

 gnats, which swarm in those parts, and the 

 myriads of insects that are fostered by the 

 unsetting sun. 



These birds are often seen, in flocks of fifty 

 or a hundred, flying at very great heights, 

 and preserving very great regularity in their 

 motions ; sometimes forming a straight line, 

 and at others assuming the shape of a wedge, 

 which is supposed to facilitate their progress. 



Their cry 



upposet 



is frequt 



jptibl 



uently heard when they are 



at an imperceptible distance above us. When 

 on the ground, they range themselves in a 

 line, after the manner of cranes ; and seem 

 to have descended rather for the sake of rest 

 than for any other refreshment. Having 



continued in this 

 two, one of ther 



situation for an hour or 

 ?ith a long loud note, 



sounds a kind of signal, to which the rest 

 punctually attend, and rising in a group, 

 they pursue their journey with renewed 

 alacrity. 



Their flight is conducted with singular 

 regularity ; they always proceed either in a 

 line abreast, or in two lines joining in an 

 angle at the middle, like the letter V. In 

 this order they generally take the lead by 

 turns, the foremost falling back in the rear 

 when tired, and the next in station succeed- 

 ing to his duty. Their track is generally so 

 high that it is almost impossible to reach 

 them from a fowling-piece ; and even when 

 this can be done, they file so equally, that 

 one discharge seldom kills more than a single 

 bird. They are very destructive to the grow- 

 ing corn in the fields where they happen to 

 alight in their migrations. In some coun- 

 tries they are caught at such times in long 

 nets, to which they are decoyed by tame 

 geese placed there for that purpose. Other 

 schemes are contrived to take them ; but as 



neck very pale, and at the base of a yel- they are very vigilant, feed only in the day- 

 lowish-brown ; the breast and belly whitish, I time, and betake themselves to the water at 

 clouded with gray or ash-colour ; the back I night, the fowler must exert his utmost care 

 gray, the lesser coverts of the wings almost i and ingenuity in order to accomplish his 

 white, the middle row deep cinereous slightly | ends; all must be planned in the dark, and 

 edged with white ; the primaries gray, tipped j every trace of suspicion removed ; for 

 with black and edged with white ; the | nothing can exceed the wary circumspection 



