GOOSE. Anger. Of the eight sub-varieties of the goose family supposed to have descended from three distinct wild species, the common gray or white goose, the Bremen or Embden, and the Toulouse, are supposed to have come from the gray-legged goose (Anger ferus), still found wild in the north of Europe. The folloWing is a condensed account of some of the principal breeds of geese generally disseminated. The Bremen is a large, pure white goose, with brick-red legs and bill, first brought to this country from Bremen, in Holland. In England they are called den, from a town of the same name in Holland, where theirs were first obtained. They are said to be extensively •bred in Germany and Prussia, and probably Austria. These geese are very large, weighing from twenty-two to twenty-six pounds, live weight, and occasionally full thirty pounds when in high flesh, as seen at exhibitions, and though so large, they are well tioned, hardy, healthful, and very showy. They are quiet and and take on flesh very rapidly with extra feed. They also supply a perior quality of feathers in very large quantity. The male lays about the same ber of eggs as the common goose, but usually commences much earlier in the spring. The Toulouse constitutes the third sub-variety, and was brought to this country from the south of France. It is tinguished from the common gray goose by the uniformity and constancy of its color, which is alike in both sexea, and darker than in the mon goose, and by its very large size being as heavy as the best bred Bremen. They are rather short-legged, have round, compact bodies, and a large development of the dominal pouch, which, in the common goose, is a mark or considerable age, but commences its ance in this variety when but a few months old. Like the Bremen, they lay early in the spring, are very quiet, fatten readily, and have excellent flesh. Our common geese cross freely with the Bremen and the Toulouse, the first cross yielding birds nearly or quite as large as either parent, but the results of the cross rapidly degenerate by breeding among themselves. To keep up the
size, the cross birds should be bred to one of the larger geese. The cross between the Bremen and the Toulouse is even larger than either parent, but deteriorates by breeding-in. The i time of incubation of these three varieties is from twenty eight to thirty days. The continents of Asia and Africa have furnished us with the next family of geese, consisting of four sub-varieties, three of which are called China geese, while the fourth is known by the name of African or Hong Kong. These are a]1 specifically, if not gener ically, distinct from those prepously described. They are all distinguished by a large knob or excrescence on the top of the bill next the head, that increases with age ; beak strong and high ridged; attitudes graceful and swan-like on the water, but stiff and usually quite erect on land; voices harsh, loud, and frequent; while their wings and tails are short, rendering it dif ficult for them to fly. Time of incubation, thirty-three to thirty-five days. There is gener ally great dissimilarity in size, the ganders being much larger than their mates. The three strains denominated Chinese geese are named the red legged, the black-legged, and the white Chinese goose. The first two have dark gray or brown plumage covering the wings, back, and shoul ders, the longitudinal stripe on the back of the neck almost black, while the front of the neck, breast, and flanks are fawn color, and the under and hind parts grayish white. In the red-legged, the hill, knob, and legs are red, while these parts are black in the black-legged, and this variety has usually a narrow white stripe surrounding the feather side of the knob. These brown Chinas are both beautiful little birds, the ganders being about the size of the common kind, while the geese are sinaller. The white Chinese goose is considerably larger than the brown kinds, less erect, a long, thin neck, bright orange-colored bill with large projecting knob, and legs but a little darker. It is often called the White Swan goose. All the Chinese geese are excellent layers, producing about twice as many eggs annually as com.