In its wild state, the White-fronted or Laughing goose is twenty-seven
inches long, and found in great numbers in Europe and in the North
American Fur countries, but rare along our coasts.
When domesticated, it belongs to the class of birds which are restrained
from resuming their original wild habits more by the influence of local
and personal attachment than from any love which they seem to have for
the comforts of domestication; which may be trusted with their entire
liberty, or nearly so, but require an eye to be kept on them from time
to time, lest they stray away and assume an independent condition. The
white-fronted goose well deserves the patronage of those who have even a
small piece of grass.
The first impression of every one, upon seeing this species in
confinement, would be that it could not be trusted with liberty; and the
sight of it exercising its wings at its first escape would make its
owner despair of recovering it. This is not, however, the case. By no
great amount of care and attention, they will manifest such a degree of
confidence and attachment as to remove all hesitation as to the future;
and they may be regarded as patterns of all that is valuable in anserine
nature--gentle, affectionate, cheerful, hardy, useful, and
self-dependent. The gander is an attentive parent, but not a faithful
spouse.
The eggs are smaller than those of the common goose, pure white, and of
a very long oval; the shell is also thinner than in, most others; the
flesh is excellent.
* * * * *
Having completed the enumeration and description of the varieties of
poultry, it will, perhaps, be appropriate to give some account, before
proceeding to the next general division of the subject, of the
structure, or anatomy, so to speak, of