AQUATIC FOWLS. 



247 



" Now it so happened, as is common, that the 

 miller's wife had set a number of duck's eggs 

 under a hen, which in due time were incubated ; 

 and, of course, the ducklings, as soon as they 

 came forth, ran with natural instinct to the wa- 

 ter, and the hen, as may well be supposed, was 

 in a sad pucker, her maternity urging her to 

 follow the brood, and her selfishness disposing 

 her to keep on dry land. In the mean while, 

 up sailed the goose, and with a noisy gabble, 

 which certainly (being interpreted) meant leave 

 them in my care, she swam up and down with 

 the ducklings; and when they were tired with 

 their aquatic excursion, she consigned them to 

 the care of the hen. The next morning down 

 came again the ducklings to the pond, and there 

 was the goose waiting for them, and there stood 

 the hen in her great flustration. On this occa- 

 sion we were not at all sure that the goose in- 

 vited the hen, observing her maternal trouble ; 

 but it is a fact that she being near, the hen 

 jumped upon her back, and there sat, the duck- 

 lings swimming, and the goose and hen after 

 them, up and down the pond. And this was 

 not a solitary event. Day after day the hen 

 was seen on the back of the goose, attending 

 the ducklings up and down, in perfect content- 

 edness and good-humor, numbers of people 

 coming to witness the circumstance, which con- 

 tinued until the ducklings, coming to the days 

 of discretion, required no longer the joint guard- 

 ianship of the goose and hen." 



THE TOULOUSE GOOSE. 



The Toulouse Goose, as its name indicates, 

 originated in France, and is distinguished from 

 the dark-gray variety of the common goose, 

 which it much resembles, not only by its greater 

 size, but also by its colors being darker and 

 more intense, by the bright-orange hue of the 

 bill, legs, and the orbit around the eye, as also 

 by the singularly early development of the ab- 

 dominal pouch. The orbit itself is also much 

 larger, and the head more depressed. The last 

 characteristic, the unusual proportions of the 

 abdominal pouch, is abundantly displayed in 

 the same excess as is sometimes seen in the 

 dew-lap of some breeds of cattle ; and this oc- 

 curs at a short period after they have emerged 



from the shell. The goslings will begin to as- 

 sume this ordinary feature of mature birds when 

 not ten days old ; and at three months it will be 

 seen almost touching the ground. 



Some of the earliest birds of this breed were 

 imported into England by the late Earl of 

 Derby, from the south of France probably 

 from Marseilles. Like the Embden variety, 

 they attain great size, and by the continuous 

 retention of certain fixed colors in their plu- 

 mage, with some other peculiarities, they would 

 seem to be equally entitled to the separate po- 

 sition of a " sub-variety." 



Dixon says: "The Toulouse goose, which 

 has been so much extolled and sold at such 

 high prices, is only the common domestic, en- 

 larged by early hatching, very liberal feeding 

 during youth, fine climate, and perhaps by age, 

 I am in possession of geese, hatched at a season 

 when it was difficult to supply them with abund- 

 ance of nourishing green food, that are as much 

 undersized as the Toulouse goose is oversized ; 

 they are all domestic geese, nevertheless. It is 

 for the sake of enlarging their growth, not for 

 the mere purpose of supporting their strength, 

 that the breeders cram them night and morning 

 with flour-and-egg pellets. Grass alone would 

 suffice for their sustenance, but extra nourish- 

 ment makes extra-si/ed birds." 



The weight attained by the Toulouse goose 

 is said to be enormous ; and in a good locality, 

 and under good management, must insure an 

 admirable return for food consumed and the 

 other expenses of their keep. To these merits 

 we may add. another recommendation, in the 

 fact that, "even when fed to the greatest weights, 

 they never become disgustingly fat, as too often 

 happens with the common goose." 



It is very essential to farmers to procure good 

 and pure-bred stock in their poultry-yards, that 

 although the difference between a flock of ordi- 

 nary geese and of Embden birds may not be 

 great, except in color, it is still advisable the 

 Embden or Toulouse should be preferred as be- 

 ing distinct breeds, and therefore, by attention 

 to the renovation of the stock, not likely to de- 

 teriorate. 



The following is a description of a gander of 

 this breed: "Head depressed, and of a more 



