236 



THE AMERICAN POULTERER'S COMPANION. 



THE AMERICAN WILD GOOSE. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



AQUATIC FOWLS. 



THE AMERICAN WILD GOOSE. 



THIS bird is the well-known Wild Goose of 

 America ; in Europe it is called the " Canada 

 Goose." Most writers on poultry call it a va- 

 riety of the common goose ; but it is no more a 

 variety of goose than the swan. Cuvier seems 

 to doubt whether it is a goose at all, and says 

 that it can not properly be separated from the 

 true swans. The American wild goose, in spite 

 of its migratory habits, which it appears in al- 

 most every case to forget in a reclaimed or do- 

 mesticated state, shows much more disposition 

 for true domestication than the swan, and may 

 be maintained in perfect health with very limited 

 opportunities for bathing. Audubon kept some 

 three years, and although the old birds refused 

 to breed in confinement, their young, which he 

 captured with them, did. He states their pe- 

 riod of incubation to be twenty-eight days, which 

 is a shorter period than one would have imag- 

 ined. That circumstance alone makes a wide 

 distinction. 



In a state of nature, the American wild goose 

 eats worms and soft insects, as well as grass and 

 aquatic plants, which the typical, or goose prop- 

 er, never does. In a domestic or confined state 

 they do not breed till they are at least two years 

 old, and so far approach the swan, like which 

 also, the male appears to be fit for reproduction 

 earlier than the female. But Audubon says, 

 "That this tardiness is not the case in the wild 

 state, I feel pretty confident ; for I have observed 

 having broods of their own many individuals, 

 which, by their size, the dullness of their plu- 

 mage, and such other marks as are known to the 

 practical ornithologist, I judged to be not more 

 than fifteen or sixteen months old. I have, 

 therefore, thought that in this, as in many oth- 

 er species, a long series of years is necessary for 

 counteracting the original wild and free nature 

 which has been given them ; and, indeed, it- 

 seems probable that our attempts to domesti- 

 cate many species of wild fowls, which would 

 prove useful to mankind, have often been aban- 

 doned in despair, when a few years more of 



