306 THE C MP LE TE POULTRY BOO K. 



The Canaaa goose is occasionally exhibited at poultry-shows, but it does uot 

 breed readily in eoafiuement, even when captured very young, in size it is much 

 smaller than the common goose, which, with the fact that it would take many 

 generations to breed out its wild disposition, gives little encouragement to the 

 attempt to domesticate it. 



CHINESE GEESB. 



Of the Chinese geese, representing the species Cygnoides, we have three vari- 

 eties, of which the largest and most popular is 



THE HONG KONG GOOSE, 



sometimes called the African goose. These geese have been known in America 

 for about thirty years, but have not yet become very common, owing partly, no 

 doubt, to the fact that they lay but few eggs as compared with the Bremen and 

 Toulouse. 



Some of the earliest importations of these geese are recorded to have weighed 

 fifty-six pounds per pair (goose and gander), and forty to fifty pounds to the pair 

 is not an uncommon weight. 



These geese are especially valuable for crossing upon the common goose, such 

 crosses being of large size, quiet and productive, and no doubt we shall soon 

 have improved American vai'ieties which will Combine the good qualities of the 

 foreign and the common breeds, just as we have among chickens. 



The Hong Kong goose is brown in color, in this respect resembling the Tou- 

 louse, but it is distinguished by the horny knob at the base, of the upper mandi- 

 ble, which gives it the specific name of cygnoides. Our illustration on page 197 

 gives a better idea of its appearance than any verbal description, can. 



BEOWN AND WHITE CHINA GEESE. 



These geese have the knobbed bill of the Hong Kong goose, but they are 

 smaller in size, being smaller even than the common goose. In shape^ hovrever, 

 they are very elegant, having an upright, swan-like carriage, and on this account 

 are much esteemed. The Brown variety is of dark pluniage, resembling that of 

 the Hong Kong, and with a dark stripe running down the back of the neck ; the 

 White variety is of pure white plumage, but in size and shape the counterpart 

 •f the Brown. 



THE BGYPTIAN GOOSE. 



This variety is feeognized by the Americtm Stcmdwrd, although it is bred to 

 but a limited extent. It belongs to the genus Chenalopex, and some naturalists 

 are inclined to class it with the duck, rather than with the goose family, on ac- 

 count of the males having the peculiar enlargement at the junction of the 

 bronchial tubes with the trachea, which is characteristic of the ducks. 



This classification is supported by the fact recorded by Darwin, of the inter- 

 breeding of these geese and the Penguin variety of the common duck in the En- 

 glish Zoologieal QdCdens. 



