GEESE 



159 



There are no regular distinguishing marks of sex in geese. 

 The males average larger than the females, but the difference 

 is slight and some females may be larger than some males of 

 the same breeding. In some foreign varieties, not known in 

 this country, the males are mostly of one color and the females 

 of another, but as there are exceptions to this rule, it is not 

 reliable. In those varieties which have a knob on the bill this 

 is likely to be more prominent in the males. There is nothing 

 in the form of the 

 plumage to distin- 

 guish the male, like 

 the little curl in the 

 tail of the drake. 

 The voices of males 

 and females are so 

 nearly alike that, 

 while a difference 

 may sometimes be 

 noted in the voices 

 of birds known to be 

 of different sexes, 

 the voice is not a 

 plain indication of 

 the sex. There are 



,. FIG. 141. Toulouse Geese 



some males so dis- 

 tinctly masculine, and some females so distinctly feminine, in 

 appearance and behavior, that a person familiar with geese will 

 not often make a mistake in identifying the sex by the general 

 appearance. There are others about which the most expert 

 goose breeder is in doubt until the laying season arrives and the 

 production or nonproduction of eggs shows without doubt which 

 birds are females and which are males. 



The name goose is applied to either male or female without 

 reference to sex, and also to the female as distinguished from 



