Introduction 5 



Geese attain the adult colouring of the soft-parts (and also of the plumage) not earlier 

 than at the age of 3 or 4 years, perhaps even later. During the first 2 or 3 years, some of the 

 light or bright colours of their soft-parts do not attain that intensity which they do in 5- or 

 6-year-old birds. It is still more probable that, from the age of 6 to that of 10 years, the 

 colours become yet purer and brighter. Hence it is quite possible that, partly for this reason, 

 we meet with such diversity of description among different authors. It must also be 

 remembered that some species of geese very rarely come into the hands of naturalists in 

 the fresh state (i.e. freshly shot), while others never do so. 



I consider all this so essential that I shall lay great stress on the colouring of the 

 soft-parts when describing the Various species, while it will undoubtedly be necessary to 

 repeat more than once the considerations set forth above, for which I ask the reader's 

 indulgence beforehand. 



From immemorial times, the opinion has been held that geese are extremely stupid 

 birds. On the other hand, simultaneously with this unflattering view of their intelligence, 

 all nations from the earliest ages have recognised the extraordinary wariness and watch- 

 fulness of these birds. How then are these two conceptions, so absolutely contradictory to one 

 another, to be reconciled ? The solution, it seems to me, is to be found in the fact that these 

 opinions refer to perfectly distinct birds, namely, the former to domestic and the latter to 

 wild birds. Indeed, the domestic goose, devoid of all initiative, all independence in the 

 manifestation of its natural capacities, is apparently a thoroughly stupid creature, the more so 

 that its head, with comparatively small eyes, has a far from intelligent expression. Look at 

 a great flock of fat domestic geese, being driven by a boy with a switch in his hand, or by 

 a little girl hardly taller than the birds themselves, — it is difficult to find any symptoms of 

 intelligence in such a flock. But are wild geese like this? On the contrary, they show 

 extreme wariness, acuteness, and curiosity. Their caution is most notable ; and there is no 

 game more difficult for the sportsman to approach than geese, excluding of course young 

 and inexperienced birds that have not yet come into contact with their enemies. 



Geese breed in uninhabited and usually open situations difficult of access. There 

 they nest, in the majority of cases, in large parties or colonies. Nesting geese may be met 

 with in thousands and tens of thousands in certain extensive water-basins, in the tundras, 

 etc. ; but it must not be thought that their nests are crowded, or placed very near together : 

 on the contrary, nesting geese occupy suitable spots in extensive and undisturbed open areas. 

 After being hatched, the young, together with the old birds, while still moulting, gather into 

 large parties and, if necessary, perform their wanderings on foot from one likely spot to 

 another in company. If, however, they meet on the way their most dangerous foe — man, 

 heavy is the penalty the geese have to pay for the encounter. This helplessness of moulting 

 geese has long been known, and in such cases the birds are exterminated en masse. 

 Happily, there are not many inhabitants in the chief breeding-grounds, where millions of 

 geese build their nests; otherwise there would be a rapid diminution in the hordes of 

 these birds which rejoice the soul of the fowler and lover of Nature with their appearance 

 and cackle during their spring and autumn flights. 



Geese afford one of the most difficult kinds of fowling. However cunning man may 

 be, he finds it extremely difficult to over-reach these wary birds, and in some places one may 

 see them in hundreds of thousands for several weeks at a stretch without the possibility 

 of securing a single specimen. This is especially the case in thickly populated regions, 

 where the geese already know that danger may threaten them. 



