GEESE 197 



a dog barked. In many a lonely farmhouse 

 throughout the land you will be told that the 

 goose is the better watch-dog. 



When we consider this bird purely from the 

 aesthetic point of view — and here I am speaking 

 of geese generally, aU of the thirty species of the 

 sub-family Anserinas, distributed over the cold 

 and temperate regions of the globe — we find 

 that several of them possess a rich and beautiful 

 colouring, and, if not so proud, often a more 

 graceful carriage than our domestic bird, or its 

 original, the wild grey -lag goose. To know 

 these birds is to greatly admire them, and we 

 may now add that this admiration is no new 

 thing on the earth. It is the belief of dis- 

 tinguished Egyptologists that a. fragmentary 

 fresco, discovered at Medum, dates back to 

 a time at least four thousand years before the 

 Christian era, and is probably the oldest picture in 

 the world. It is a representation of six geese, of 

 three different species, depicted, it is said, with 

 marvellous fidehty, and a thorough appreciation 

 of form and colouring. 



Among the most distinguished in appearance 

 and carriage of the handsome exotic species is 



