THE DOMESTIC GOOSE. 413 



form, voice, gait, or attitude, to afford the least suspicion that 

 there exists any sub-species of the Domestic Goose. One bird 

 was pointed out by the proprietor as differing from the rest. 

 He was a half-bred with the China Goose. 



The Toulouse Goose, which has been so much extolled and 

 sold at such high prices, is only the common domestic, en- 

 larged by early hatching, very liberal feeding during youth, 

 fine climate, and perhaps by age. I am in possession of 

 Geese, hatched at a season when it was difficult to supply 

 them with an abundance of nourishing green food, that are as 

 much under-sized as the Toulouse Goose is over-sized; they 

 are all Domestic Geese, nevertheless. It is for the sake of 

 enlarging the growth of the Goslings, not for the mere purpose 

 of supporting their strength, that the breeders cram them night 

 and morning with flour-and-egg pellets. Grass alone would 

 suffice for their sustenance, but extra nourishment makes 

 extra-sized birds. Toulouse Geese are fine, six foot high, 

 grenadier individuals of the Domestic Goose that is all. 

 Some were to be seen not far from the Horse Guards, in 

 proximity to their human representatives, in the autumn 

 of 1848. 



The importance of feeding all growing creatures abundantly 

 and well, cannot be too often forced upon the attention of the 

 breeder, whether of fowls or quadrupeds. A pertinent illus- 

 tration of its effects, even upon Man, is given by the Rev. John 

 Williams, in his "Missionary Enterprises," p. 512. "The 

 men are strong and tall, being frequently upwards of six feet 

 high, with limbs firm and muscular, but not heavy and clumsy. 

 This is especially the case with the chiefs, and more remark- 

 ably so with those of Tongatabu and the Friendly Islands, whose 

 form and bearing are as stately as their movements are natural 

 and free. The women are inferior to the men ; but yet they 

 often present the most elegant models of the human figure. 



" Captain Cook attempted to account for the superior size 



36* 



