THE CHINA GOOSE. 



STNONYMES. Anser cygnoides. Anas cygnoides, Cygnus sinensis, of 

 Naturalists , L'oie de G-uinee, of Buffon ; Oie de Chine, of the French ; 

 Chinesische Gans, Gans von Guinea, of the Germans ; Ganso de China, 

 G-inso de Guinea, Ganso de cisne, of the Spaniards ; China Goose, Hong- 

 Kong Goose, Swan Goose, Chinese Swan, Guinea Goose, Spanish GOOA, 

 African Goose, and a host of other names, of the English and Anglo- 

 Americans 



THERE is a venerable joke told about a Spanish Don 

 who knocked at a cottage door to ask a night's lodging: 

 " Who's there ? what do you want ?" demanded the 

 inmates. " Don Juan Jose Maria Antonio Pedro Alonzo 

 Carlos Geronimo, &c., &c., &c., wants to sleep here 

 to-night." " Get along with you," was the reply, " how 

 should we find room here for so many fellows." It will 

 be seen by the list of names at the head of this article, 

 that the China goose is in the same position as the 

 Spanish Don. 



Confusion, therefore, and perplexity are the certain 

 lot of whosoever attempts to trace this bird in our books 

 of natural history. Its place of birth has excluded it 

 from all monographs or limited ornithologies. In very 

 few systematic works is it mentioned at all, which is re- 

 markable of a bird so striking in its appearance, which 

 there is every reason to believe must have been domes- 

 ticated for a long period. The uncertainty that has 

 existed as to its correct name and really native country 

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

 it has not been allowed to claim a place among the 



