278 



Cmtfurji Qi Natural 



them. I certainly acted rashly, notwith- 

 standing appearances, in holding this faith- 

 ful couple up to the ridicule of visitors who 

 accompanied me to the spot where the novel 

 incubation was going on. I have had a 

 salutary lesson, and shall be more guarded 

 for the future in giving an opinion. In- 

 formation is always desirable, and is doubly 

 satisfactory when accompanied by a de- 

 monstration. In the present instance, my 

 speculation that a progeny could not be 

 produced from the union of a Bernacle 

 gander with a Canada goose has utterly 

 failed. I stand convinced by a hybrid, re- 

 primanded by a gander, and instructed by a 

 Goose." [See BEBNACLE.] 



The SWAX GOOSE. (Anser cygnoides.) This 

 bird is of a size between the Swan and the 

 common Goose, and is distinguished from 

 other species by its upright and stately walk, 

 by having a large knob on the base of the 

 upper mandible, and a sort of wattle under 

 the throat ; a white line or fillet runs over 

 the front of the brow, and a black stripe 

 down the hinder part of the neck : the base 

 of the bill is orange ; the front of the neck 

 and breast are yellowish-brown ; the back, 

 and all the upper parts, darkish-gray ; the 

 Bides gray edged with white ; belly white ; 

 and legs orange. It is variously called the 

 Chinese, Spanish, Guinea, Cape, and Swan 

 Goose : and is said to have been originally 

 found only in Guinea, though it is now 

 tolerably common, in a wild as well as in a 

 domesticated state, both in warm and in 

 cold climates. They are more noisy than 

 any other species : nothing can stir by night 

 or day without their sounding the alarm by 

 their hoarse cacklings and shrill cries. They 

 breed with the common Goose, and their 

 offspring are as prolific as others. 



The BEAN GOO_SE (Anser aegetum) is a 

 native of the Arctic regions, migrating pe- 

 riodically towards the southern parts of 

 Europe. They arrive in the fens of England 

 in the autumn, sometimes in large flocks, 

 and leave us in April and May for the north j 

 some retiring no farther to breed than the 

 Hebrides. They resort equally to the corn 

 fields and the fens, and are said to show a 

 preference for the green corn as food. The 

 head and top of the neck, back, and wing- 

 coverts are ashy-brown ; the base of the 

 neck and under parts of the plumage are 

 bright ash-colour ; the rump is nearly black ; 

 I the vent and under part of the tail are pure 

 i white ; and the legs are reddish-orange. They 

 I lay ten or twelve white eggs, in a nest 

 placed in the marshes, or among the heath. 



I GORGONIA : GORGONIAD^E. A ge- 



! nus and family of Zoophytes, described in 



j Dr. Johnston's excellent work on the British 



j Zoophytes as "polype-mass rooted, arbores- 



' cent, consisting of a central axis barked 



| with a polypiferous crust ; the crust when 



recent soft and fleshy, when dried porous 



and friable." The species here figured ( Gor- 



gonia vemtcosa) is somewhat fan-shaped, 



i much and irregularly branched, the branches 



cylindrical, flexuous, and barked when dry 



I with a white warted crust. It is found in 



deep water, and is abundant along the whole 

 of the south coast of England. ' The polype- 

 mass is more than twelve inches in height, 

 and fifteen or seventeen in breadth, fixed to 

 rocks by a broad circular fibro-corncous 

 disc, shrub-like, branched from near the 



WARTY 



base, the branches expanded laterally, s 

 times bushy, cylindrical, erect or er 



some- 

 recto- 



patent, warty. Axis black, smooth, and 

 somewhat glossy, round or a little com- 

 pressed, compact and corneous, with a snow- 

 white pith in the centre, irregularly cellular 

 and very like the pith of a rush. Crust, in 

 dried specimens, white, cretaceous, friable, 

 warted, with numerous polype-cells and 

 wrinkled in the small spaces between them." 

 Professor E. Forbes, alluding to another 

 species (Gorpon.ia Jtabellum\ which it was 

 supposed had been admitted into the British 

 Fauna on insufficient evidence, says, " The 

 fisherman who brought it described it as 

 being covered with living flesh when taken. 

 On examination we found that it presented 

 the curious appearance of West Indian 

 incrusting shells and British mixed, and the 

 living flesh was doubtless a British sponge, 

 which had grown round the branches in 

 many parts. This fully accounts for the 

 story of its having been found fresh on the 

 British shores." 



GOSHAWK. (Falco palumbariwi.) The 

 Goshawk is twenty-one inches in length ; 

 the bill and cere are blue ; crown, black, 

 bordered on each side by a line of white, 

 finely speckled with black ; upper parts, 

 slate, tinged with brown ; legs feathered half 

 way down, and, with the feet, yellow ; the 

 breast and belly white, with a number of 

 wavy lines or bars of black ; the tail long, of 

 an ash-colour, and crossed with four or five 

 dusky bars : wings much shorter than the 

 tail. The Goshawk frequents the deep so- 

 litudes of forests, preying upon hares, squir- 

 rels, and the larger ground birds ; it also 



j feeds on mice and small birds, and eagerly 

 devours raw flesh. It plucks the birds very 



i neatly, and- tears them into pieces before it 

 eats them, but swallows the pieces entire. It 

 is extremely destructive to game, darting 



I through the woods after its prey with great 



