AQUATIC FOWLS. 



253 



$wenty-four pounds. They are noble-looking 

 birds, quite ornamental about the premises, and 

 add much to the scenery, particularly if a sheet 

 of water be near. When floating on its surface 

 they have a stately, majestic appearance, and in 

 their dignified movements they certainly much 

 resemble the swan. They have a deep, coarse, 

 hollow voice, unlike that of any other variety. 



The appellation of Swan goose, given by 

 Willoughby to this large and beautiful bird, is 

 very apt; but the Canada goose, which is at 

 least as beautiful, has an equal right to the 

 name; and, besides, all compound epithets 

 ought to be banished from natural history. 



" The Guinea goose," says Buffon, " exceeds 

 all others in stature; its plumage is a brown- 

 gray, and with a brown cast on the head and 

 above the neck; it resembles, therefore, the 

 wild goose in its colors ; but its magnitude, and 

 the prominent tubercle at the root of its bill, 

 mark a small affinity to the swan ; yet it differs 

 from both by its inflated throat, which hangs 

 down like a pouch or little dew-lap ; a very evi- 

 dent character, which has procured to these 

 birds the denomination Jabotieres (from Jabot, 

 the crane). Africa, and perhaps the other 

 Southern countries of the old continent, seem 

 to be their native abode ; and though Linnaeus 

 has termed them Siberian geese, they are not 

 indigenous in Siberia, but have been carried 

 thither and multiplied in a state of domestica- 

 tion, as in Sweden and Germany. Frisch re- 

 lates that, having repeatedly shown to Russians 

 geese of this kind which were reared in his 

 court-yard, they all, without hesitation, called 

 them Guinea geese, and not Russian or Sibe- 

 rian geese. Yet has the inaccurate denomina- 

 tion of Linnaeus misled Brisson, who describes 

 this goose under its true name of Guinea goose ; 

 and again, a second time, under that of Mus- 

 covy goose, without perceiving that his two de- 

 scriptions refer precisely to the same bird." 



" It is somewhat larger," says Brisson, " than 

 the tame goose ; the head and the top of the 

 neck are brown, deeper on the upper side than 

 on the under; .... on the origin of the bill 

 there rises a round and fleshy tubercle; . . . . 

 under the throat also there hangs a sort of 

 fleshy membrane." Klien regards this goose 



of Muscovy or Russia as a variety of the Sibe- 

 rian, which, we have seen, is the same with the 

 Guinea goose. "I saw," says he, "a variety 

 of the Siberian goose, its throat larger, its bill 

 and legs black, with a black depressed tubercle." 

 Not only does this goose, though a native of 

 the hot countries, multiply when domesticated 

 in the coldest climates, it also contracts an affin- 

 ity with the common species ; and the hybrids 

 which are thus bred take the red bill and legs 

 of our goose, but retain of their foreign parents 

 the head, the neck, and the strong, hollow, yet 

 loud voice. The clangor of these large geese 

 is still more noisy than that of the ordinary 

 kind, and they have many characteristics com- 

 mon ; the same vigilance seems natural to them. 

 " Nothing," says Frisch, " can stir in the house 

 during the night but the Guinea goose will 

 sound the alarm ; and in the day time they give 

 the same screams if any person or animal en- 

 ters the court, and often will pursue, pecking 

 the legs." 



The bill, according to the remark of this 

 naturalist, is armed at the edges with small in- 

 dentings, and the tongue is beset with sharp 

 papillae ; the bill is black, and the tubercle which 

 rises upon it is vermilion. This bird carries its 

 head high as it walks, and its fine carriage and 

 great bulk give it a noble air. According to 

 Frisch, the skin of the little dew-lap, or pouch, 

 under the throat, is neither soft nor flexible, 

 but firm and hard. This account, however, 

 scarcely agrees with the use which Koblin tells 

 us the sailors and soldiers at the Cape make of 

 it. " These wild geese at the Cape have been 

 called Crop geese (pies Jabotieres). The sol- 

 diers and common people of the colonies use 

 their crops for tobacco-pouches ; they will hold 

 about two pounds." 



Bewick has given an admirable wood-cut of 

 this bird; but he has evidently selected the 

 gander, which is taller and more erect than the 

 female, though to both may be applied Wil- 

 loughby's description : " A stately bird, walking 

 with its head and neck decently erected." 

 Bewick calls it the " Swan goose." The tu- 

 bercle at the base of the bill, the usual length 

 of neck, and its graceful carriage in the water, 

 give it some claim to relationship with the aris- 



