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THE POULTRY BOOK. 
having a higher flavour than that of the tame goose ; but it is not as often seen in 
our markets as the Bean goose. 
By the older writers, this species was confounded with the Bean goose and the 
Pink-footed goose. The three are so very similar in plumage, that, until one has 
compared specimens of them, it is not easy to determine them separately. The 
present may, however, be known by its much larger bill, which is flesh-coloured, 
with its unguis whitish. 
“ The common domestic goose appears to be the civilized oftspring of the Grey 
goose, to which, in bulk and proportion, it bears the same relations as other tame 
animals do to their prototypes : as a short-horned ox to a Devonshire ox, or a 
domestic drake to a mallard.” 
The Grey-lag goose is widely distributed over the globe. Even in Northern India 
it is a common winter species. Jerdon, in his admirable work, thus describes the 
family and the species under notice : — 
“ The family of Anserinae, the true geese, have a large heavy body, with 
a tolerably long neck and a small head. The wings are long and powerful. 
They live in flocks, breeding for the most part in the polar regions, and 
migrating in winter to more genial climes ; when flying, they maintain regular 
long lines, and emit loud clanging calls. In consequence of the forward 
position of the legs, they walk well on land. They feed entirely on vegetables, 
grazing on grass and young corn, their stout short bills being well suited 
to biting off the shoots ; and they spend the heat of the day on sand-banks 
in rivers or the centre of large lakes. They make large nests of grass, &c., 
on the ground in marshy places, and lay several whitish eggs. The first down of 
the nestlings is mottled. 
The common wild goose, or Grey-lag goose of England, is a common winter 
, visitant to the north of India, extending its migrations to Central India, but is 
rarely seen farther south. It is sometimes met with in small parties of from 
four to twenty ; occasionally in vast flocks, which feed on young corn, grass, &c., 
and during the heat of the day rest on some sand-bank in the large rivers, or in 
the middle of a tank. This goose is a very wary bird, approached with difiiculty 
when feeding, but may be occasionally stalked when feeding on the bank of a 
river or tank : I have often killed it from a boat. The flesh is excellent. In the 
wild state, it breeds in Northern Europe and Asia, making a large nest among 
the rushes, and laying from eight to twelve whitish eggs. 
“ The Chinese or Knobbed goose, the Anser cycjnoldes, was considered by Cuvier 
to belong to the swans, but is strictly a goose with sixteen cervical vertebra). It 
is domesticated in China, and breeds readily with the common goose. Bl}^!! con- 
siders the common goose of India to be a hybrid between this and Anser cinereusA 
The allied species of the genus Anser, namely the Bean, the Pink-footed and 
the AYhite-fronted geese, though frequently stated to be in part the progenitors of 
our domestic variety, do not appear to cross readily with the common species. 
