GEESE. 



295 



13 no cere. 



The True Geese.— 

 Sub-family 



is by no means a desirable addition to the farmyard, for it is so punnacious 

 that it not only drives all other birds before it, but readily attacks pigs, dogs, 

 or any other animal that may approach it, and often inflicts severe wounds 

 with its hard and sharp bill. 



Remains of an extinct Goose {Cnemiornis calcitrans) have been discovered 

 in New Zealand, and Count Salvador! has placed it in the vicinity of Cereopsis. 

 It was a larger bird than the latter, and was apparently flightless, as there is 

 no keel to the sternum. 



The characters of this sub-family are almost exactly the same as those 

 given for the sub-family Cereopsinm, excepting that there 

 There are at least six well-marked genera, of which the 

 most beautiful are perhaps the Snow Geese [Chen), though 

 some of the Brent Geese are also handsome birds. The 

 true Geese {Anser) are found in all the northern parts of 

 the Old and New Worlds, breeding in the high north, and 

 migrating south in winter, often in vast numbers. The Grey Geese {Anser) 

 are nearly all of them British, the best-known being the Grey Lag-Goose 

 {A. anser), the White-fronted Goose (A. albifrons), the Bean Goose (A. 

 fabalis), and the Pink-footed Goose (A. brachyrhynchus). All the true Geese 

 have the serrations or saw-like edges of the upper mandible visible from the 

 outside, and the cutting edge of the mandible is sinuated, whereas in the 

 Brent Geese (Branta) the cutting edge is straight, and the serrations are not 

 visible from the outside. 



These are, like the True Geese, also birds of the Arctic portions of the 

 Old and New Worlds, where they breed in large numbers ; and, as they 

 moult their quills before com- 

 ing south, they are trapped The Ereut Geese. — 

 by the natives in numbers. Genus Mranta. 

 Mr. Trevor-Battye describes 

 the capture of more than three thousand Brent 

 Geese on the island of Kolguev, the birds being 

 driven by the Samoyeds in boats towards the 

 shore, where a large circle of net is prepared for 

 them, and the birds are thus trapped and killed. 

 One of the handsomest of the Geese, and, 

 indeed, of all water-fowl, is the Red-breasted 

 Goose (Branta ruficollis), which breeds in Siberia, 

 winters in great numbers on the Caspian Sea, 

 and has occasionally come over to Kngland. It 

 is remarkable for having been drawn on their 

 monuments by the ancient Es^yptians, and even 

 at the present epoch it seems to be met with 

 sometimes in Egypt. 



Count Salvadori'a next sub-family is the 

 Chenonettinoi, containing the Magellanic Geese and their allies, the Blue- 

 winged Geese {Gyanochen) and the Maned Goose {Chenonetta). 



In this group of Geese the hind toe is narrowly lobed 

 and the bill is rather short and Goose-like, as opposed to 

 the somewhat flat and broad bill of the Ducks which form 

 the next sub-family^naMuce. TheUpland Geea&{Cloephaga) 

 are all inhabitants of South America, where they range 

 from Peru, Bolivia, and Southern Brazil to Chili, Patagonia, and the Falkland 



fig 51.— TnERKD-BREftSTEDGOOSK 



(Branta ruJicoUis). 



The TIpland Geese. 

 —Sub-family 



CJt{;noHcttui(B. 



