GEESE
People who are not familiar with animals often get wrong ideas of the
characters of certain creatures from the popular metaphorical use of
their names. Perhaps those who first applied these metaphors understood
them correctly, but after long use by people acquainted with the
metaphor but not familiar with the animal to which it relates, a part of
the meaning is likely to be lost. This is what has happened to the term
"goose" as applied to a person. When one acts stupidly foolish about
some little thing he is often called a goose. Most people, associating
the idea of stupidity with the name of the goose, suppose that geese are
very stupid and uninteresting. If you will notice how the term "goose"
is commonly applied to persons, you will discover that it is very rarely
used except to apply to a person for whom the speaker has a great deal
of affection. Under the same circumstances others are more likely to be
designated by some harsher term. The most marked characteristic of a
goose is not stupidity but an affectionate disposition. The ancient
Egyptians noted this, and in their hieroglyphic writing a goose stood
for "son." The goose is a very intelligent and interesting bird. It is
of a most social nature and becomes very much attached not only to its
mates but to other animals and to people. No domestic animal except the
dog develops so much affection for its master as a goose will if it is
permitted to do so. But, while interesting in some ways, the goose has
so little of the other qualities which lead man to make a companion and
pet of an animal, that its devotion is not usually encouraged.
Commercially geese and ducks belong to the same class and are used in
the same way (the goose being preferred where size is desired), but in
some points of character, structure, and habits they are quite
different.
=Description.= In general appearance a goose resembles a duck so closely
that people not familiar with both often mistake large white ducks for
geese, but no one that knows either kind well is likely to make mistakes
in the identity of any of the common varieties. While many of the small
domestic geese are no heavier than the largest ducks, geese are on the
average more than twice as large as ducks. Their legs are longer and
much stronger. Their bills are larger at the juncture with the head and
smaller and more pointed at the tip. While ducks are usually very timid,
geese are bold, and this makes a marked difference in their attitude
when approached and also in the carriage of their bodies. They are very
strong birds, quite able to defend themselves against the attacks of
small animals and from annoyance by children. Indeed, they are very
likely to take an aggressive attitude toward persons or animals that
they regard as trespassers, and a large gander when angry is a dangerous
customer. A blow from his wing might knock a child down or even break a
small child's arm.
[Illustration: Fig. 140. Emden Geese]
There are no regular distinguishing marks of sex in geese. The males
average larger than the females, but the difference is slight and some
females may be larger than some males of the same breeding. In some
foreign varieties, not known in this country, the males are mostly of
one color and the females of another, but as there are exceptions to
this rule, it is not reliable. In those varieties which have a knob on
the bill this is likely to be more prominent in the males. There is
nothing in the form of the plumage to distinguish the male, like the
little curl in the tail of the drake. The voices of males and females
are so nearly alike that, while a difference may sometimes be noted in
the voices of birds known to be of different sexes, the voice is not a
plain indication of the sex. There are some males so distinctly
masculine, and some females so distinctly feminine, in appearance and
behavior, that a person familiar with geese will not often make a
mistake in identifying the sex by the general appearance. There are
others about which the most expert goose breeder is in doubt until the
laying season arrives and the production or nonproduction of eggs shows
without doubt which birds are females and which are males.
[Illustration: Fig. 141. Toulouse Geese]
The name _goose_ is applied to either male or female without reference
to sex, and also to the female as distinguished from the male. The male
is called a _gander_. The young are called _goslings_. _Goose_ and
_gander_ are the modern forms of Anglo-Saxon names.
=Origin.= Our fully domesticated geese all originated in the Old World.
The European stock is believed to be derived from the Gray Lag Goose,
which is still found in Europe in the wild state. The origin of the
curious name "Gray Lag" has been the subject of much speculation. The
most plausible theory is that which takes "lag" in its common meaning
and supposes that the term was applied to this species of goose because
it was slower in motion, or because it lingered longer in Northern
Europe, than the less familiar species. As in the wild state the Gray
Lag Goose ranged over Europe and Northern Asia, it may have been
domesticated many times in many different places. Wild specimens may
still be brought into domestication, but there are no authentic reports
of such cases. The Chinese breeds of geese, which will shortly be
described, are quite different in appearance from the European races,
but the difference does not necessarily show that they are of different
origin.
[Illustration: Fig. 142. Toulouse goslings three weeks old]
=Common geese.= Throughout Europe and America the ordinary geese are of
much the same type as their wild progenitor. They are a little heavier
and coarser than the Gray Lag Goose, and have not its great power of
flight, yet some of them can fly better than any other domestic poultry.
The author has seen flocks of common geese fly from a high hill over the
roofs of tall buildings at its foot and alight in a stream fully an
eighth of a mile from where they started. It is perhaps needless to say
that they always walked home. Such geese were hard-meated and tough
except when quite young. They were geese that picked the most of their
living where food was none too plenty. Well-kept stocks of common geese
have probably always been very good table poultry.
=Improved races.= In various parts of Europe the common geese have
somewhat distinctive race characteristics. The Roman Geese are supposed
to be the oldest distinct race. They differ from ordinary geese in that
the prevailing color is white, and they are more prolific layers. The
Pomeranian Goose, found throughout Germany and Southeastern Europe, is
somewhat larger. The female of this race is usually white, the male
white with a gray back. Because of the peculiar markings of the male
this variety is sometimes called the Saddleback Goose. The Emden and
Toulouse Geese are very large. The Emden was developed in Germany, where
it was at one time called the Brunswick Goose. The first specimens seen
in America came from Bremen in 1826 and were called Bremen Geese. They
had been known in England for a long time and had become very popular
there under the name of "Emden Geese." The name "Bremen" was used in
this country until about 1830, when the English name was adopted.
The Toulouse Goose is a very large gray goose which originated in a
goose-growing district in the vicinity of Toulouse in the South of
France. It was introduced into England about 1840 and into America about
fifteen years later.
In Russia gander fighting was from very ancient times a popular sport,
and several varieties of geese were bred especially for their fighting
qualities. The most common of these is the Tula Goose, which is usually
gray in color but is sometimes clay-colored. The latter point is very
interesting for its bearing on the question of the common origin of the
European and Asiatic breeds of geese, to be discussed in the next
paragraph. None of the Russian races of geese are known in this country.
[Illustration: Fig. 143. White China Geese. (Photograph from Charles
McClave, New London, Ohio)]
[Illustration: Fig. 144. Brown China Geese. (Photograph by E. J. Hall)]
The Asiatic races of geese probably came to America as early as the
Asiatic races of fowls. They were early known in England under a variety
of names, and were quite popular there over a hundred years ago as
Spanish Geese. A writer in an agricultural paper in 1848 stated that he
had seen White China Geese in Virginia in 1817. It appears, however,
that the early introductions were immediately so mixed with the native
geese that the distinct type was lost, and that it was not until nearly
1850 that the specimens were brought here from which the stocks now
known were produced. There are two varieties of the China Goose--White
and Brown. They are smaller and more graceful than the improved European
varieties and are more prolific layers than any except perhaps the Roman
Goose. They have a large knob on the head at its juncture with the upper
mandible. Most of the geese of Europe are either white or gray
(black-and-white). The red which appears to a slight extent as brown in
the Gray Lag Goose has been lost or so reduced that it is not noticed
except in the Tula Goose, which is sometimes clay-colored. The colored
variety of the China Goose is distinctly brown. Hence, if they came from
the same wild species as the European geese, the red which was reduced
in Europe was greatly increased in China. But if, as is not impossible,
they came from different wild species, a most interesting question
arises: The Chinese types and the European types are perfectly fertile
when bred together. Would their wild ancestors (supposing them to have
the same characteristics) be equally fertile? Unless we can find a wild
ancestor for the Chinese type, all that we know of the relations of
domestic races points to the conclusion that they, like the European
races, are descended from the Gray Lag Goose.
The variety known as the African Goose is a larger and coarser type of
the Brown China, and is probably obtained by crossing with the Toulouse
or by selection from mixed flocks. Nothing definite is known of the
origin of this type, but to any one familiar with the stock in the
goose-growing district of Rhode Island, and with the breeding methods of
the farmers there as applied in the development of the Rhode Island Red
fowl, it appears probable that African Geese came from this district.
[Illustration: Fig. 145. African Geese on a Rhode Island farm]
=Ornamental varieties.= There are two ornamental varieties of domestic
geese and quite a number of species of wild geese that are kept in
collections of fancy waterfowl. The Sebastopol Goose evidently belongs
to the common domestic species. It is about the size of the common
goose, is white in color, and has a peculiar development of some of the
feathers of the body and wings, this development of the plumage giving
the variety its ornamental character. A number of feathers on the back
of this bird are long and twisted, as if they had been loosely curled,
and lie in a wavy mass on the back and rump. The Egyptian Goose is the
smallest domestic goose. It is unlike other domestic geese in being
quite gaudy in color. It is found in the wild state and also in
domestication in many parts of Africa. Sebastopol and Egyptian Geese are
rare in this country.
[Illustration: Fig. 146. Sebastopol Geese on an English farm]
=The Canada Goose, or American Wild Goose.= Few persons in America have
not at some time seen a flock of wild geese flying in wedgelike
formation as they migrate in the spring and fall. Their honking can
often be heard when they cannot be seen. Hunters watch for these flocks
and, when they are flying low, sometimes shoot them as they pass, but
the favorite method of hunting wild geese is to induce them to approach
a hunter concealed where he can get a better shot at them. For this kind
of hunting, shooting stands are built near bodies of water where wild
geese may alight in their passage. These stands are either concealed in
the bushes or masked by green boughs. In order to bring near the stands
any wild geese that may alight of their own accord, and also to attract
any flying by, captive wild geese are used as decoys. At first the birds
used for this purpose were those crippled but not killed by the hunters
and kept in confinement. As the supply secured in this way was small,
and as the wild birds bred readily in captivity, the breeding of wild
geese for decoys soon became quite common in districts where the
shooting of this kind of game was good. The wild geese will mate with
domestic geese, producing a sterile hybrid called a mongrel goose.
[Illustration: Fig. 147. A pet Canada gander. (Photograph from George E.
Parrett)]
=Place of geese in domestication.= In ancient Egypt and Rome the goose
was a sacred bird, not an object of worship but reserved for the use of
the priests, who keenly appreciated the advantage of having a monopoly
of the use of the best domestic table bird then in existence. In later
times, until the turkey was introduced, goose was the favorite kind of
poultry for festal occasions all through Europe. Then it lost some of
its popularity in those places where turkeys were extensively grown. In
Germany, Austria, and Russia there is still a very large production of
geese. In this country geese are grown in small numbers by a few persons
in almost every community. The feeding and flocking habits of geese
especially adapted them to the conditions under which they were kept
when stock of all kinds was allowed to run at large and to feed on
common or unoccupied land in charge of a gooseherd. As towns grew, and
as people became less tolerant of the trespassing of live stock, the
growing of geese in towns declined. Nearly all the geese now produced in
this country come from flocks on general farms. The production of geese
on farms has been restricted to some extent by the abundance and
cheapness of turkeys. As turkeys become scarce and dear in any locality
the production of geese seems to increase. From early times geese have
been prized for their feathers. So valuable have these been considered
that it has been a practice to pluck the live geese each year before
they molted. Public opinion now condemns this barbarous practice, and
persons plucking live geese are sometimes punished for cruelty to
animals.
[Illustration: Fig. 148. Mongrel Geese on a Rhode Island farm]