424 THE CHINA GOOSE. 



and allowed the use of its wings, is almost as much at ease in 

 the air as a Pigeon, the Chinese Goose can hardly manage to 

 flutter across a lawn, to get out of the way of a frisky spaniel. 



"Said the Tame Goose to the Wild one, 'On such a day I 

 shall fly away." Said the Wild Goose to the Tame one, < I 

 shall fly away on such a day, if it be the will of Allah/ At 

 the appointed time the Wild Goose performed her yearly mi* 

 gration ; the Tame Goose cannot fly to this day." If China, 

 instead of Egypt, had produced the above fable, we should be- 

 lieve that the Anas cygnoides was the vain, boastful bird. 



The large number of Eggs laid by these birds has led some 

 persons to imagine that, like Guinea Fowls, they were inex- 

 haustible, so that when at last the Goose did make her nest in 

 earnest (which may be known by her mixing her own down 

 with the straw) no Eggs had been reserved for the poor thing 

 to sit upon. The best plan is to date the Eggs with a pencil, 

 as they are laid, and to consume only those which are more 

 than three weeks old. They are usually very late with their 

 broods, but will rear them well enough if they are allowed to 

 take their own time, and do it after their own manner. My 

 China Goose has now (June, 1848) laid thirty Eggs, without 

 intimating any intention of sitting, but she has annually 

 brought off a family for the last five years, and I doubt not she 

 will again this season. When the fit comes, she will take pos- 

 session of her milk-pan, which stands in a large boarded coop, 

 likea dog-kennel. Once duly enthroned there, she will main- 

 tain her seat with proper perseverance and tenacity. A neigh- 

 bour discarded his China Goose because she was always found 

 standing over her Eggs, instead of sitting upon them. But 

 those were only the preliminaries, the overture to the per- 

 formance. Hurry no man's cattle ; and you may as well try 

 to hurry the Emperor, as the Goose of China. Their time of 

 incubation is five weeks. I have always found them steady 

 sitters when they once begin in earnest, and exemplary parents. 



