Turkeys, Geese and Ducks 183 
but there is evidence to show that this subjection began more than 2,000 years ago. 
Yet scarcely any other animal which has een tamed for so long a period, and hited 
so largely, has varied so little. 
Of the three varieties which may be traced from the Grey-Lag, only the Toulouse 
and the Hmbden need be mentioned here. These differ one from another only in 
the matter of colour and weight, the former resembling the wild bird in colow, 
while the latter is white. The increased weight of the tame goose is astonishing, 
and shows what has been done by carefui selection on the part of the breeder 
towards this end. Thus, while the weight of the wild goose does not exceed 10lbs., 
the variety known as the Toulouse Goose has been known to attain a weight of 
30lbs—that is to say, as much as a swan! 
At one time geese were bred in this country im enormous numbers for the sake 
of their feathers. Norfolk and Lincolnshire were especially celebrated in this respect; 
URES 
it being not uncommon for a breeder to keep a stock of 1,000 birds for breeding purposes. 
These were taken regularly to pasture lke sheep, and the man who vended. them was 
known as the ‘“‘gooseherd” or “gozzerd.” They were plucked no less than five times 
a year, an act of barbarism occasionally practised even now. Periodically the surplus 
stock of the large flocks to which we have just referred was sent to London or some 
other large market, the birds travelling on foot. Moving at about the rate of a mile 
an hour they would manage to cover as much as ten miles in a day. 
Geese appear to be very long-lived: an imstance is recorded of one that lived 
80 years, and was then killed on account of its mischievousness ! 
While the goose has proved to possess a singularly conservative character, the 
same is not true of its near ally the duck, inasmuch as, both in the matter of coloration 
