THE GOOSE. 



223 



few that have not had opportunities of seeing 

 them, and whose ideas would not anticipate 

 our description. But, though nothing be so 

 easy as to distinguish these in general from 

 each other, yet the largest of the duck kind 

 approach the goose so nearly, that it may be 

 proper to mark the distinctions. 



The marks of the goose are, a bigger body, 

 large wings, a longer neck, a white ring 

 above the rump, a bill thicker at the base, 

 slenderer towards the tip, with shorter legs 

 placed more forward on the body. They 

 both have a waddling walk ; but the duck 

 from the position of its legs, has it in a greater 

 degree. By these marks, these similar tribes 

 may be known asunder ; and though the 

 duck should be found to equal the goose in 

 size, which sometimes happens, yet there are 

 still other sufficient distinctions. 



But they all agree in many particulars; 

 and have a nearer affinity to each other than 

 the neighbouring kinds in any other depart- 

 ment. Their having been tamed has pro- 

 duced alterations in each, by which they 

 differ as much from the wild ones of their 

 respective kinds, as they do among them- 

 selves. There is nearly as much difference 

 between the wild and the tame duck, as be- 

 tween some sorts of the duck and the goose ; 

 but still the characteristics of the kind are 

 strongly marked and obvious ; and this tribe 

 can never be mistaken. 



The bill is the first great obvious distinc- 

 tion of the goose kind from all of the feathered 

 tribe. In other birds, it is round and wedge- 

 like, or crooked at the end. In all the goose- 

 kind it is flat and broad, made for the purpose 

 of skimming ponds and lakes of the mantling 

 weeds that stand on the surface. The bills 

 of other birds are made of a horny substance 

 throughout ; these have their inoffensive bills 

 sheathed with a skin which covers them all 

 over. The bill of every other bird seems, in 

 some measure, formed for piercing or tearing; 

 theirs are only fitted for shovelling up their 

 food, which is chiefly of the vegetable kind. 



Though these birds do not reject animal 

 food when offered them, yet they can content- 

 edly subsist upon vegetables, and seldom seek 

 any other. They are easily provided for ; 

 wherever there is water, there seems to be 

 plenty. All the other web-footed tribes are 

 continually voracious, continually preying. 

 These lead more harmless lives : the weeds 

 on the surface of the water, or the insects at 

 the bottom, the grass by the bank, or the 

 fruits and corn in cultivated grounds, are 

 sufficient to satisfy their easy appetites ; yet 

 these, like every other animal, will not reject 

 flesh, if properly prepared for them ; it is 

 sufficient praise to them that they do not 

 eagerly pursue it. 



As their food is chiefly vegetables, so their 

 fecundity is in proportion. We have had 

 frequent opportunities to observe, that all the 

 predatory tribes, whether of birds or quadru- 

 peds, are barren and unfruitful. We have 

 seen the lion with its two cubs ; the eagle 

 with the same number ; and the penguin with 

 even but one. Nature that has supplied them 

 with powers of destruction, has denied them 

 fertility. But it is otherwise with these 

 harmless animals I am describing, They 

 seem formed to fill up the chasms in animated 

 nature, caused by the voraciousness of others. 

 They breed in great abundance, and lead their 

 young to the pool the instant they are ex. 

 eluded. 



As their food is simple, so their flesh is 

 nourishing and wholesome. The swan was 

 considered as a high delicacy among the an- 

 cients ; the goose was abstained from as totally 

 indigestible. Modern manners have inverted 

 tastes ; the goose is now become the favourite ; 

 and the swan is seldom brought to table, un- 

 less for the purpose of ostentation. But at 

 all times the flesh of the duck was in high 

 esteem ; the ancients thought even more highly 

 of it than we do. We are contented to eat it 

 as a delicacy ; they also considered it as a medi- 

 cine ; and Plutarch assures us, that Cato kept 

 his whole family in health, by feeding them 

 with duck whenever they threatened to be 

 out of order. 



These qualities, of great fecundity, easy 

 sustenance, and wholesome nourishment, have 

 been found so considerable as to induce man 

 to take these birds from a state of nature, and 

 render them domestic. How long they have 

 been thus dependents upon his pleasure is not 

 known ; for, from the earliest accounts, they 

 were considered as familiars about him. The 

 time must have been very remote ; for there 

 have been many changes wrought in their 

 colours, their figures, and even their internal 

 parts, by human cultivation. The different 

 kinds of these birds, in a wild state, are sim- 

 ple in their colourings ; when one has seen a 

 wild goose or a duck, a description of its 

 plumage will, to a feather, exactly correspond 

 with that of any other. But in the tame 

 kinds, no two of any species are exactly alike. 

 Different in their size, their colours, and fre- 

 quently in their general form, they seem the 

 mere creatures of art ; and having been so 

 long dependent upon man for support, they 

 seem to assume forms entirely suited to his 

 pleasures or necessities. 



