Chap. VIII. 



DOMESTIC GOOSE. 



289 



Shows two breeds are exhibited ; viz. the Embden and Toulouse ; 

 but they differ in nothing except colour. 30 Eecently a smaller 

 and singular variety has been imported from Sebastopol, 31 with 

 the scapular feathers (as I hear from Mr. Tegetmeier, who sent 

 me specimens) greatly elongated, curled, and even spirally 

 twisted. The margins of these feathers are rendered plumose 

 by the divergence of the barbs and barbules, so that they 

 resemble in some degree those on the back of the black Austra- 

 lian swan. These feathers are likewise remarkable from the 

 central shaft, which is excessively thin and transparent, being 

 split into fine filaments, which, after running for a space free, 

 sometimes coalesce again. It is a curious fact that these fila- 

 ments are regularly clothed on each side with fine down or 

 barbules, precisely like those on the proper barbs of the feather. 

 This structure of the feathers is transmitted to half-bred birds. 

 In Grallus sonneratii the barbs and barbules blend together, and 

 form thin horny plates of the same nature with the shaft : in 

 this variety of the goose, the shaft divides into filaments which 

 acquire barbules, and thus resemble true barbs. 



Although the domestic goose certainly differs somewhat from 

 any known wild species, yet the amount of variation which it has 

 undergone, as compared with most domesticated animals, is sin- 

 gularly small. This fact can be partially accounted for by selection 

 not having come largely into play. Birds of all kinds which pre- 

 sent many distinct races are valued as pets or ornaments ; no 

 one makes a pet of the goose ; the name, indeed, in more lan- 

 guages than one, is a term of reproach. The goose is valued 

 for its size and flavour, for the whiteness of its feathers which 

 adds to their value, and for its prolificness and tameness. In 

 all these points the goose differs from the wild parent-form ; 

 and these are the points which have been selected. Even in 

 ancient times the Eoman gourmands valued the liver of the 

 white goose ; and Pierre Belon 32 in 1555 speaks of two varieties, 

 one of which was larger, more fecund, and of a better colour 

 than the other; and he expressly states that good managers 



30 'Poultry Chronicle/ vol. i., 1854, 

 p. 498 ; vol. iii. p. 210. 



31 ' The Cottage Gardener,' Sept. 4th, 

 1860, p. 348. 



32 ' L'Hist. de la Nature des Oiseaux,' 

 VOL. I. 



par P. Belon, 1555, p. 156. With respect 

 to the livers of white geese being pre- 

 ferred by the Eomans, see Isid. Geoffroy 

 St. Hilaire, 'Hist. Nat. Ge'n.,' torn. iii. 

 p. 58. 



U 



