TovLousE Geese. 559 



whilst, on the other hand, my Toulouse took first honours at the great London Show, where the 

 birds are not taken from their pens, but. judged more on the merits of their good looks, condition, 

 and symmetry, and the two breeds compete in one open class. Before Birmingham Show my old 

 Toulouse Geese that won first prize weighed fifty-four and a half pounds the pair, and the goslings 

 forty-eight and a half pounds the pair, which showed a falling off on the former and a slight 

 gain on the latter as compared with the previous year, when the weights of my old birds at the 

 show itself were, old birds sixty pounds, and goslings forty-seven pounds. This weight for a 

 pair is believed to be the heaviest ever attained at any exhibition. I account for the decrease 

 in weight since the previous year by the fact of having in the interim lost my finest old gander, 

 which, just previous to departing this life, had weighed no less than thirty-eight pounds. 



" Some time ago I bought for a change of blood a fine gander from a celebrated fancier, which 

 differed from my own strain in colour, being of a beautiful silver-grey instead of dark like my own, 

 though otherwise the markings were exactly similar. I bred from him that year some splendid 

 stock, which all took after their maternal relatives in colour with one exception, consisting of a 

 gander, which came of exactly the same hue as his sire. Since that time, in each succeeding year, 

 I find one or two — seldom more — come silver-grey ; and strange to say, they are always ganders, 

 and generally remarkably fine, and superior to their brothers. I have never yet bred a single goose 

 of this lighter shade. 



" Nothing as to the treatment and feeding of Toulouse Geese need be added to what I have 

 already said on the rearing of the Embden variety. But I may add that there is one particular 

 use to which the Toulouse Geese are put, as it is to this variety exclusively the fashionable world 

 owe that favourite delicacy of the luncheon and supper-table, the famous Perigord pies, or pate 

 de foie gras. For this purpose the geese are shut up in a very hot chamber, and there fed well. 

 They are so kept until their livers swell to an enormous size, when they are killed, and the 

 diseased organs being taken from them are potted with truffles, and the epicurean dish of foie gras 

 anx tritjfcs is thus made. 



" I cannot help here noticing the very poor encouragement held out to breeders of geese by 

 most of our poultry societies, many of which seem to almost ignore their e-xistence, or if they do 

 deign to give them a place in the prize sheet, the amount offered as a premium is usually so small 

 that the exhibitor does not care to send his heavy and valuable specimens, at great cost for 

 carriage, for the chance of gaining a sum so paltry, that when fees, carriage, &c., are paid, the 

 balance stands on the wrong side, even if the birds are successful. Surely these useful birds are 

 deserving of more attention than they get, when we look to their advantages of size, and other 

 qualities which render them pre-eminently important as an article of food for the people. 



" The number of breeding-stock for geese is stated by Mrs. Blair to be one male to four 

 females ; but my experience has caused me to rather differ from this, and I should advise not more 

 than two geese to be put to one gander. And I would also say, that though I would always 

 recommend a pure breed to any one, still I am aware that a cross between the two sorts produces 

 first-rate birds for table purposes only. 



" It is well-known that geese are excellent guards to a poultry-yard ; for should any intruder 

 come to the pens at night from evil (or any other) motives, or should a fox be prowling about, their 

 clamour is sure to arouse the poultry-man, giving timely warning that something is amiss. We 

 cannot but remember that it was to this quality Rome owed its preservation from the onslaught 

 of the Gauls, the cackling of some geese confined in the Capitol putting the Romans on their 

 guard in time to repulse the attack of the invaders ; for which good service the geese of the 

 Capitol were declared to be sacred, and ever afterwards treated with profound respect. No goose- 



