THE CHINA GOOSE. 421 



lievc must have been domesticated for a long period. The un- 

 certainty that has existed as to its correct name, and really na- 

 tive country, may be one cause of this. Like the Jews or the 

 Gipsies, it has not been allowed to claim a place among the 

 natives of any one region ; and, like many others furnished 

 with a variety of aliases, it ends by being altogether excluded 

 from society. 



The old writers call it the Guinea Goose, for the excellent 

 reason, as Willughby hints, that in his time it was the fashion 

 to apply the epithet " Guinea" to every thing of foreign and 

 uncertain origin.* Thus, what we at this day erroneously call 

 the Muscovy Duck, was then called the Guinea Duck. Not 

 long back it was common with us to refer every strange or new 

 object to a French source. Spanish Goose is another title, 

 probably as appropriate as Guinea Goose. Bewick has given 

 an admirable wood-cut of this bird, but he has evidently se- 

 lected the Gander, which is taller and more erect than the fe- 

 male, though to both may be applied Willughby's description, 

 "a stately bird, walking with its head and neck, decently 

 erected." Bewick calls it the Swan Goose. The tubercle at 

 the base of the bill, the unusual length of neck, and its grace- 

 ful carriage in the water, give it some claim to relationship 

 with the aristocracy of lake and river. Cuvier (Griffiths' edi- 

 tion) goes further, calls it at once Cygnus Sinensis, Chinese 

 Swan, and says that this and the Canada Goose cannot be 

 separated from the true Swans. A Goose, however, it de- 

 cidedly is, as is clear from its terrestrial habits, its powerful 



* The epithet "Indian" has also answered the same accommo- 

 dating purpose. " The lesser kind I conjecture to be the right 

 Mambrine or Syrian Goat, although some of the late writers call it an 

 Indian Goat ; the reason is, because (as hath beene said) they cal al 

 strange beasts by the names of Indians, if they find them not in their 

 owne countrey." TopsdVs History of Foure-footed Beasts, p. 236. 



