THE BREMEN GOOSE. 431 



The original stock has never been out of my father's pos- 

 session ; nor has he ever crossed it with any other kind, since 

 H was imported in 1821. 



I find, by reference to my father's notes, that, in 1826, and 

 in order to mark his property indelibly, he took one of his 

 favourite imported Geese, and, with the instrument used for 

 cutting gun-waddings, made a hole through the web of the 

 left foot. This was done on the 26th June : and now, in 

 1850, the same Goose, with the perforation in her foot, is 

 running about his poultry-yard, in as fine health and vigour as 

 any of her progeny. She has never failed to lay from twelve 

 to sixteen Eggs every year, for the last twenty-seven years, 

 and has always been an excellent breeder and nurse, as has 

 all of the stock and offspring connected with her. I had the 

 curiosity to weigh one of her brood of 1849, when nine months 

 old exactly, and his weight, in feather, sent up 22 Ibs. in the 

 opposite scale. This hugeous Anser has been preferred to 

 breed from, the coming season. 



In 1832, a bull-dog killed several of my father's Geese, and, 

 among them, the two Ganders originally imported. For the 

 last eighteen years he has bred by his young Ganders putting 

 them indiscriminately to parents and sisters and reserving 

 the best of the produce, male and female, for breeding. In 

 so doing, he has never experienced any deterioration in weight, 

 feather, or stamina, as has been exemplified in the above-men- 

 tioned instance of the nine-months old Gander, so produced, 

 and whose food was almost exclusively grass. 



As quality of flesh, combined with weight, is a main con- 

 sideration, I wish to mention, regarding the former, that the 

 flesh of the Bremen Goose is very different from that of any 

 of our best domestic varieties. It does not partake of that 

 dry character which belongs to other and more common kinds, 

 but is as tender and juicy as the flesh of a wild Fowl; besides, 

 it shrinks less in the process of cooking, than that of any other 



