THE CHINA GOOSE. 223 



natives of any one region ; and like many others fur- 

 nished with a variety of aliases, it ends by being alto- 

 gether excluded from society. 



The old writers call it the Guinea goose, for the 

 excellent reason, as Willughby hints, that in his time it 

 was the fashion to apply the epithet " Guinea" to every- 

 thing of foreign and uncertain origin. Thus, what at 

 this day is erroneously called the "Muscovy duck," was 

 then called the " Guinea duck." Not long back, it was 

 common to refer every strange or new object to a 

 French source. " Spanish goose" is another title, pro- 

 bably as appropriate as Guinea goose. Bewick has 



THE CHINA GOOSE. 



given an admiral wood cut of this bird, but he has evi- 

 dently selected the gander, which is taller and more erect 

 than the female, though to both may be applied Wil- 

 lughby's description, " a stately bird, walking with its 

 head and neck decently erected." Bewick calls it the 

 " swan goose." The tubercle at the base of the bill, the 

 unusual length of neck, and its graceful carriage in the 

 water, give it some claim to relationship with the aris- 

 tocracy of lake and river. Cuvier goes further, calls it 

 at once Cygnus sinensis, (Chinese swan,) and says that 



