GEESE AND SWANS 



453 



and color. A very large, massive gray goose can hardly fail to be 

 a Toulouse, or a grade bird not distinguishable from the pure or 

 standard-bred type of the breed. 



Asiatic types of geese. The Asiatic types of geese include three 

 varieties, two of which are classed as China Geese, and the third as 



Fig. 479. White China Geese. (Photograph from owner, Charles McClave, 

 New London, Ohio) 



the African Goose. References to these by early American writers 

 leave no doubt that the type was quite well known through scattered 

 specimens before 1 840. It is quite reasonable to suppose that from 

 an early period in the trade with the Orient, Asiatic races of geese, 

 like the Chinese fowls, were brought in at intervals by vessels trad- 

 ing with China. The striking peculiarity of this type is the knob, 

 or protuberance, developed on the head at the juncture with the 



