SCREAMERS, DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS 461 



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PhoU by 11^. SaviUe-Ktnt, F.Z.S.^ 



AUSTRALIAN PYGMY GOOSE 



T/ie pys^my gcac art expert dn.'eri 



The Geese include birds of somewhat con- 

 spicuous coloration, besides a considerable number 

 of more subdued aspect. The sexes are distin- 

 guished by different names, the female being 

 known as the Goose, the male as the Gander, 

 whilst the young is the Gosling. As we have 

 already mentioned, there is no hard-and-fast line 

 to be drawn between the three sections of this 

 group. The Ducks are connected by the Shel- 

 drakes with the Geese, through the Spur-winged 

 Goose, the Egyptian and Orinoco Geese, and 

 certain other species which cannot be alluded to 

 on this occasion. 



The Spur-winged Geese, of which there are 

 two species, are African birds, and derive their 

 name from the long spur seated on the wing. 



A still more remarkable form is the Half- 

 WEBBED Goose, so called from the fact that its 

 feet are only partially webbed. It has a black- 

 and-white plumage, a hooked beak, and a large 

 warty prominence on the front of the head. It spends most of its time perched on the branches 

 of the Australian tea-trees, and rarely enters the water. The windpipe is peculiar, being coiled 

 in several folds between the skin and the breast-muscles. 



From these peculiar forms we pass to the true geese. The largest living species is the 

 Chinese or Guinea-goose of Eastern Siberia, regarded as the stock from which the domesticated 

 geese of Eastern countries have been derived. 



European domesticated geese have been derived from the Grev or GreV-LAG Goose, a 

 species at one time exceedingly common in England, breeding in considerable numbers in 

 the fen districts, where the young were frequently taken and reared with the large flock of 

 domesticated geese commonly kept at that time for the sake of their feathers. The grey-lag 

 goose, however, has long ceased to breed in England, though a few still nest in Scotland. 



The most important breeds derived from 

 the grey-lag are the ToULOUSE and Emuen. 

 Other British species are the Bean-GOOSE, 

 Pinr-kooted and White-fronted Geese, 

 and the " BlaCR " Brent and Barnacle- 

 c;eese, in all of which the sexes are precisely 

 similar in coloration and subdued in tone. 



In the New World some ver}' beautiful 

 white geese are found, which are still more 

 interesting in that the females have a different 

 coloration. These are the KELP- and Upland- 

 GEESE of Patagonia and the Falklands. The 

 female of the kelp-goose is brownish black 

 above and black barred with white below, 

 whilst the female of the upland-goose is 

 rufous and black in colour. The latter may 

 be seen in London parks. 



Lastly, we have a few species known from 



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•^ ' -" their small Size as Pygmy GEESE 01 Australia, 



BLACK-NECKED SWAN India, and Africa. Perhaps the best known 



TAeJlesiy knob at the base of the bill is of a bright red colour is the Indian spCcicS, Called the COTTON-TEAL, 



