FANCIERS' JOURNAL AND POULTRY EXCHANGE. 



259 



imported from China thirty years ago by Kev. Mr. Marsh, 

 of Dedham, and they were good ones too. I alluded to this 

 fine stock in a late paper sent you. There were exhibited 

 by Isaac N. French, of Holbrook, Mass., at the last Boston 

 Show, some splendid specimens of this variety — pullets at 

 ten months old drawing ten pounds, and perfect in penciled 

 plumage. They are hard to beat, and are the genuine 

 China stock. Mr. French has bred them a great many 

 years in their purity, and gets a round price for his best 

 birds even at this late day. For their class, I consider this 

 strain of blood the very best we have ever had in this coun- 

 try, and I have bred and exported to England hundreds of 

 this family, first and last. But these fowls came from 

 Shanghai also. They are very heavily feathered upon the 

 legs, and were known in the old days as " Marsh Shang- 

 hais," to distinguish them from the imported "Forbes 

 Shanghais," the " Cushing Shanghais," the "Burnbam 

 Shanghais," &c. 



There is now no question existing as to the leading fact 

 that the Queen's Cochins and the Cochins of the present 

 time all originated in China. But the first mentioned were 

 long-tailed, long-bodied, long-legged, smooth-limbed birds. 

 The "Cochins" of to-day must be heavily feathered to the 

 tips of their toes, or they are disqualified in the exhibition- 

 room in competition for fowl-show premiums — as every one 

 is now aware. 



PodLJF^Y De^TI^T' 



(For Fanciers' Journal.) 



"YOU AND YOUR NEIGHBOR." 



I must add a little testimony to A. N. E.'s article, under 

 the above heading, in No. 14. Last spring one of my 

 neighbors borrowed some Duekwing Games of me, procur- 

 ed some Black Reds of another neighbor, then advertised 

 as follows : " My Duekwing and Black Beds I sell eggs 

 from, are imported, and their progeny are from a noted 

 breeder in England, who has made these two varieties a 

 specialty for over twenty years ; and I have reason to 

 believe they are the best of the kind ever imported into this 

 country." He did not have an imported bird in his yard; 

 all his Duckwings were bred from my stock. This season 

 he advertises largely, and claims to sell eggs from " Duck- 

 wing Games (imported strain)." He represents to his cus- 

 tomers that his fowls are the very best, and that his neighbors 

 sell inferior stock and eggs, from common fowls and mon 

 grels. I hope the time will come, when we will have a 

 detective department in our journals, and that such hum 

 bugs will be ventilated. J. Y. Bickbll. 



Westmoreland, N. Y. 



THE CANADA GOOSE. 



A writer in the New England Farmer thus describes 

 the Canada or wild goose : 



Among the birds which migrate far from northern lati- 

 tudes during the winter months, there is no species viewed 

 with more general interest than the Canada goose, especially 

 in New England, and yet in the majority of cases the ex- 

 tent of the knowledge of these birds is confined to their 

 harsh note of " awhonk honk," and their regular and sys- 

 tematic manner of flight. The plumage of this goose is 

 very handsomely marked ; the head a glossy black, as is 

 also the neck, except a band of white across the throat; the 

 upper part of the body is grayish brown, the wing coverts 

 pale gray edged with brown, the lower parts of the body 

 shading into grayish white, the abdomen pure white and 

 the tail black. 



The movements of the Canada goose upon the land are 

 rather awkward, but upon the water they are extremely 

 graceful, resembling the gray swan. The native land of 

 this magnificent bird is far to the north, great numbers of 

 them being found in Labrador and the adjacent islands ; 

 here they remain during the short summer of those latitudes, 

 breeding quite abundantly. Their nests are usually formed 

 upon the ground, of small sticks and plants and coarse 

 grass ; the eggs are of a dull greenish tint, rather elliptical 

 in form, and somewhat larger than a medium hen's egg ; 

 the period of incubation is four weeks. The male bird dur- 

 ing this time never leaves the side of the female, except to 

 procure food, and takes her place at intervals. The young 

 brood follow their parents to the water at a very early age, 

 and are watched over and taught by both until they are 

 able to care for themselves, and the whole family remain 

 together until the following spring. 



Early in September the various families begin to gather 

 for a general departure for a more genial climate, and at 

 the first prospect of a snow storm, the note of departure is 

 sounded, and after an hour or two spent in teaching the 

 young their order of march the} 1 start, usually with an ex- 

 tended front, then in a single line, but gradually assume 

 the angular form in which we most commonly see them ; 

 the elder males take the front, the females follow, and the 

 young according to their strength, the weakest having the 

 rear. They usually continue their flight two or three days 

 before they are sufficiently fatigued and hungry to care to 

 take much rest, but they occasionally stop for a night or 

 day in the neighborhood of some lake or arm of the sea to 

 satisfy the cravings of hunger and renew their strength. 

 Great numbers of them proceed as far south as Texas and 

 Florida, although some remain in the Middle States, during 

 winter, but they breed in these warm countries very spar- 



