Zoo Notes 
a fondness 
for newly- 
sown beans, 
amongst 
which it 
creates con- 
siderable 
havoc. The 
various 
flocks, dur- 
ing their 
residence in 
this country, 
have each 
their particular haunts or feeding districts, 
to which they invariably return. The 
Egyptian or Nile goose, which is often seen 
figured on Hgyptian monuments, was the 
“fox-goose”’ or “ chinalopex ” 
of the Greeks, so called 
perhaps on account of the 
burrows in which it breeds, 
or the fox-like colour of parts 
of its plumage. ‘The other 
varieties shown agree in one 
common character of feeding 
upon vegetables and being 
remarkable for their fecundity. 
The French pdté-de-foie-gras, 
for which Strasbourg is so 
noted, is not a French inven- 
tion, but a mere imitation of 
a well-known dish of classic 
times, made from the livers of the geese 
of Ferrara, so much celebrated among the 
ancients for the magnitude of their livers, 
one of which is said to have weighed 
upwards of 
two pounds. 
Geese have 
a reputation 
for stupidity 
which they 
(at all events 
wild ones) do 
not deserve, 
as many a 
sportsman 
who has 
tried stalk- 
ing them 
BEAN GOOSE. - 
AUTCHIN'S GOOSE. 
243 
will testify ; 
or if this is 
not sufficient 
evidence you 
have only to 
listen to the 
tales of woe 
which the 
California 
farmers tell 
of their pro- 
voking vigi- 
lance and 
cleverness. 
a 
The Turkey. 
EGYPTIAN GOOSE. 
At this time of the year many 
of us assist at the obsequies 
of the turkey, and the following 
description of that bird’s nuptials may there- 
fore possibly be of interest. 
The authority quoted is Neltje 
Blanchan, and the particular 
species Meleagris gallapavo, 
from whom our common or 
farmyard turkey is descended. 
“ Beginning at early dawn 
in spring,” she writes, “and 
before leaving his perch, the 
male turkey gobbles a shrill, 
clear love song. Sailing 
to the ground, the cock at 
the sight of a hen displays 
every charm he possesses: his 
widely-spread tail, his dewlap 
and warty neck charged with bright red 
blood; and drooping his wings as he struts 
before her, he sucks air into his wind-bag, 
only to discharge it with a pulmonic puff, 
that he 
evidently 
considers 
irresistibly 
fascinating.” 
The sequel 
is not so 
romantic, as 
. the inatten- 
tion of the 
turkey to his 
mate and 
young is 
proverbial. 
BLACK AND WHITE GOOSE. 
