BLACK CAYUGA.--Largest solid black duck known. Mature pair weighs
fifteen pounds. Body of good length.
COLORED MUSCOVY.--Good size, black and white in color, black
predominating. Side of head and region around eyes are without feathers
and are carunculated or corrugated and scarlet. Builds her nest and
never scatters her eggs. Never quacks. Active on wing.
WHITE MUSCOVY.--Same as colored muscovy except that it is pure white.
INDIAN RUNNER.--Head long and flat, light fawn in color, cap and cheek
markings light fawn, bill straight, green with black bean at tip, eyes
hazel, neck white from head to beginning of breast markings, back, light
fawn or gray, breast light fawn, body light fawn, rear half white.
Shanks and feet orange-yellow. Carriage very erect. Small size.
PEKIN.--Largest white duck in existence. Specimens weigh as high as ten
or twelve pounds. Head and beak long and of good size, beak
orange-yellow, back, breast and body long, broad and deep, with deep
keel. Creamy white.
ROUEN.--Largest and most popular of all colored market varieties. Weight
nine pounds for drakes, eight pounds for ducks.
WHITE CRESTED.--Medium-sized white duck with large white crest or
topknot, about two-thirds the size of Pekin, which it resembles in color
and shape of body, except crest.
=Goose= (_Anser domesticus_).--The goose has been but slightly changed
from the parent wild stock by domestication. The feet are short and
completely webbed; the hind-toe is present; and the legs are placed
comparatively far forward, so that the movements on land are less
awkward than those of most ducks. Geese swim little, and never dive.
In general, geese spend much of their time on land, feeding on grass and
other herbage, berries, seeds, and other vegetable food. Although large
birds, and of bulky form, they have great powers of flight. They strike
with their wings in fighting, and there is a hard, callous knob or
tubercle at the bend of the wing, which in some species becomes a spur.
The domestic goose is regarded as deriving its origin from the common
wild goose, but all the species seem capable of domestication.
Geese are valuable for eggs, quills, feathers, and for food. In southern
Europe culture was formerly much more important, but it is still a great
industry in Holland and Germany. Livers from geese artificially
fattened, in districts near Strassburg, are made into the celebrated
delicacy known as _paté-de-foie-gras_. In the United States, goose
raising is of minor importance. They are most extensively grown in the
Southern States; Kentucky, Missouri, Texas, Tennessee, and Arkansas
leading in the order named.