Š > EES 2) 5 $ \ x ‘ ; Shey AAP Oh ` F ae Nes oy) ORG K ae Leh to hy cate we Sh . ` a ‘ Mees R Pes sah a x AR ae ee, HARRER ORNAMENTAL AND E DOMESTIC POULTRY. s aiiai a e ORNAMENTAL AND DOMESTIC POULTRY: THEIR = HISTORY AND MANAGEMENT. BY Tue Rev. EDMUND SAUL DIXON, M.A. RECTOR OF INTWOOD-WITH-KESWICK. REPRINTED FROM THE “ i CHRONICLE AND AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE, fs WITH ADDITIONS, $ PUBLISHED AT THE OFFICE OF THE « GARDENERS’ CHRONICLE,” 5, UPPER WELLINGTON STREET, COVENT GARDEN, LONDON. MDCCCXLYVIII. a L{ LONDON: BRADEURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS. ae ne ee —— TO THE MEMORY OF THE FAITHFUL WIFE, DURING WHOSE BRIEF COMPANIONSHIP ON EARTH THESE ESSAYS WERE COMMENCED 5 THEY ARE NOW, IN THEIR AMENDED FORM, WITH DEEP SORROW INSCRIBED, BY THE AUTHOR. eee | ) RS I See Eprors.—‘* Epopoi! popopoi! popoi! popoi! Flock hither, flock hither, flock hither, Hilloah ! Hilloah ! All ye of like feather, ‘Wherever ye be, Whether barley ye gather, Or seed on the lea ; With a skip and a bound, And a song of sweet sound, Flock ye hither to me. Ye that twitter the clod around, Tio, tio, tio, tio, tio, tio, tio, tio, Or in ivy-bush dwell *Mid gardens ; in mountain or dell ; Who dip the beak, or who brush the wing, In reedy pool, or in plashy spring ; On berries of wilding-olive feed, Or strip off the arbute’s scarlet seed, Come along, come along To the voice of my song, Trioto, trioto, trioto, tobrinx ; Or on wide fenny flats, Flitting after the gnats, When they’re twanging their horn, Snap them up ; orat morn, Where the dew lies, are seen Glancing over the green Of sweet Marathon’s mead ; And with pinion so bright, Hazel-hen, hazel-hen : Or whose tribes take a flight On the tumbling sea-billow, Where the king-fishers pillow, Come hither and hear, ‘What news we have here ; For all our tribes are gathering, Fowls of every plume and wing : And there is amongst us brought An elder shrewd of subtle thought, That plans new counsels for our state, Come all, and aid the deep debate: Hither, hither, hither.” Cary’s Birds of Aristophanes, Act 1. PREFACE. —oe— Tue history of the present volume is very simple, and, it may be, runs parallel with that of many other works on higher subjects. The Author, with his Wife, (now removed from worldly trouble) and his Child, were living in a small suburban house, that had a little back- garden attached to it. As a harmless amusement they procured a few Fowls to keep, although totally ignorant of their ways and doings. In aid of this ignorance books were procured—to little purpose. The difficulty of obtaining instruction from others led to closer observa- tion on our own part, and a more eager grasp at the required knowledge. By degrees, a few water-fowl were added to the collection ; but the only watering-places on the spot were tubs and milk-pans. A neighbour, how- ever, obligingly permitted the flock of strange fowl to be driven to a small pond, a few score yards off. They throve, and duly increased ; but still little help was to be had from books. Encyclopedias, though in them the Natural History department is almost always well executed, were little satisfactory. ‘‘ Anser, see Goose ; ” “ Goose, see Anser,” is scarcely an exaggeration of what often fell. viii PREFACE. out. Several current Poultry-books were purchased, which proved to be compilations of matter, valuable indeed in the hands of an editor practically acquainted with his subject ; but these works are full of errors, grossly evident even to learners, and of contradictions that must strike any attentive reader, even though he had never seen a feathered creature in his life, But a student is sometimes the best teacher of any branch of knowledge, as far as he has himself advanced in it, because he has a fresh recollection of the questions which gave him the most trouble to solve ; and therefore notes were made, mentally, and on paper, from time to time. It was afterwards encouragingly suggested that the publication of them might be ventured upon, as being possibly acceptable to people requiring such information. They were offered to the editor of the Gardeners’ Chro- nicle, readily accepted, favourably received by the readers of that valuable paper—a class of persons whose good opinion I must think it an honour to have obtained— and the reader now holds in his hand the entire results of my present experience in this department of Natural History, in addition to what has been already published in the Agricultural Gazette. It is hoped that the need of some attempt of the kind, from some quarter, will conciliate a lenient criticism of the many errors and defi- ciencies with which the Author may doubtless be charge- able, whatever pains he may have taken to guard against them. Poultry has been too much undervalued as a means of study and a field of observation. Insignificant, and to us valueless wild animals, brought from a distance, about PREFACE. 1X whose history and habits we can learn little or nothing, are received with respectful attention by men of education and ability, areembalmed in spirits, treasured in museums, and pourtrayed by artists ; but a class of creatures inferior to few on the face of the earth in beauty, useful, com- panionable, of great value in an economical point of view, are disregarded and disdained. It is possible that any one claiming to be considered as an educated gentle- man, may be thought to have done a bold thing in pub- , lishing a book on Poultry, and giving his real name on the title page. Moubray, who has written perhaps the best modern treatise on the subject, only ventured to meet the public criticism under the shelter of an assumed title. But some very important speculations respecting organic life, and the history of the animated races now inhabiting this planet, are closely connected with the creatures we retain in Domestication, and can scarcely’ be studied so well in any other field. Poultry, living under our very roof, and, by the rapid succession of their generations, affording a sufficient number of instances for even the short life of man to give time to take some cognisance of their pro- gressive succession,—Poultry afford the best possible | subjects for observing the transmission or interruption of hereditary forms and instincts. I shall, no doubt, at the first glance, be pronounced rash, as soon as I am perceived to quit the plain task of observing, for the more adventurous one of speculating upon what I have observed. I can only say that the conclusion to which I have arrived respecting what is called the “ origin” of our domestic races, has been, to” ee aaiae a e x PREFACE, my own mind, irresistible, having begun the investigation with a bias towards what I must call the wild theory, | although so fashionable of late, that our tame breeds or | varieties, are the result of cross breeding between undo- mesticated animals, fertile inter se. It will be found, I imagine, in strict inquiry, that the most careful breeding will only fix and make prominent certain peculiar features or points that are observed in certain families of the same aboriginal species, or sub-species,—no more : and that the whole world might be challenged to bring evidence (such as would be admitted in an English court of justice) that any permianent intermediate variety of bird or animal, that would continue to reproduce offspring like itself, and not reverting to either original type, had been originated by the crossing of any two wild species. Very numerous instances of the failure of such ‘experimental attempts might be adduced. The difficulty under which science labours in pursuing this inquiry, is much increased by the mystery in which almost all breeders have involved their proceedings, even if they have not purposely misled those who have endeavoured to trace the means employed. As to the great question of the Immutability of Species, so closely allied to the investigation of the different varieties of Poultry, as far as my own limited researches have gone—and they have been confined almost entirely to Birds under the influence of man—they have led me to the conclusion that even sub-species and varieties are much more permanent, independent, and ancient, than is currently believed at the present day. This result has been to me unavoidable, as well as unexpected; for, as above mentioned, I started with a great idea of the PREFACE. xi powerful transmuting influence of time, changed climate, and increased food. My present conviction is that the diversities which we see in even the most nearly allied species of birds, are not produced by any such influences, nor byhybridisation ; but that each distinct species, however / nearly resembling any other, has been produced by al Creative Power: I am even disposed to adopt this gje! towards many forms that are usually considered as mere varieties. As far as I have been able to ascertain facts, hybrids that are fertile are even then saved from being posterityless (to coin a word) only by their progeny rapidly reverting to the type of one parent or the other: so that no intermediate race is founded. Things very soon go on as they went before, or they cease to go on at all. This is the case with varieties also, and is well known to breeders as one of the most inflexible difficulties they have to contend with, called by them “ crying back.” This circumstance first led me to suspect the permanence and antiquity of varieties, and even of what are called “ improvements” and “ new breeds.” Half of the mongrels that one sees are only transition-forms, passing back to the type of one or other original progenitor. At least, my own eye can detect such to be frequently the apparent fact in the case of Domestic Fowls. Any analogies from plants must be cautiously applied to animals ; but even in the vegetable kingdom the number and reproductive power of hybrids is apparently greater than it really is, owing to the facility of propagation by extension, by which means a perfectly sterile individual can be multiplied and kept in existence for many hundred years; whereas a half-bred bird or animal would, in a Xu PREFACE. short time, disappear, and leave no trace. I have not met with one authenticated fact of the race of Pheasants having been really and permanently incorporated with Fowls, so as to originate a mixed race capable of con- tinuation with itself; but with many that prove the extreme improbability of such a thing happening. The vulgar notions, that Hens kept at the sides of plantations therefore become the mothers of half-bred chickens, by whom Pheasant blood is again transmitted to their pro- geny; and that Hens, whose plumage in some measure resembles that of the Oock Pheasant, are therefore hybrid individuals,—are too vague to be listened to, in the absence of clearer evidence, which is not yet forthcoming. But it will not be easy to eradicate this prejudice from the popular mind. Mr. Darwin’s discovery, the result of his great industry and experience, that “ the reproductive system seems far more sensitive to any changes in external conditions, than any other part of the living ceconomy,”’ confirms my suspicion of the extreme improbability of the origination of any permanent, intermediate, reproductive breed by hybridising. It would thus seem, that so far as those organs are not much changed from their normal condition in one or other parent, (which we may suppose shown by the fact of their producing young resembling, not themselves, but their own parents) they are fertile ; but, when so changed as to be incapable of producing such young, they do not produce at all, At least, this is the way in which I must interpret the fact. The dissection of a fertile hybrid, and the comparison of its reproductive system with that of either parent, might throw light upon the question ; but it would be a nice nn ee i s € es it Ka PREFACE. 72 “undertaking. Mr. Darwin suggests, “If you ever had it , in your power fairly to test the possible fertility of the; half-and-half birds ¿inter se, I certainly think you would 4 confer a real service on Natural History.” I have there- 4% fore proposed to myself to test the fertility of various half-* bred Geese, one with another, avoiding as far as possible, near relations, and confining myself to that genus espe- cially, because almost any species of Goose will breed with any other. Geese, therefore, give greater promise of s Pi instructive if not successful experiments by the inter- marriage of hybrids, than any other bird with which we ==" =" are acquainted, If my suspicion be correct, that many varieties of Fowls (and perhaps of Dogs) are aboriginal, | and not the results of Domestication, the mere fertility of hybrids (partial or complete) must cease to be a test between species and varieties. That, however, is a question of words, rather than of things. It may be observed that a sufficient number of lusus and hybrids have been produced, in the course of ages, to stock the world with an infinite variety of forms, had not that class of heterogeneous beings been in themselves of an unprolific and transitory nature. But the number of existing forms is diminishing instead of increasing. It is — not too much to say, that if the history of the world goes on as it now does, every fifty years, for some time to come, will witness the extermination of at least one species of creature from the face of the globe. The reader will perceive that a description has been given, in most cases, of the newly-hatched chicks of each species of Poultry. The idea of doing this was suggested by an inquiry, which had for its object to namaen Xiv PREFACE, ascertain the amount of differences in the very young of our supposed domestic races, compared with the dif- ference of the mature animals, in relation to the general belief that, in youth, Species differ very little from each other ; it being really the fact that the embryos, of even distinct orders, are closely and fundamentally alike each other. But if these embryotic similarities between birds and any other class of creatures be sought for, the time of the exclusion of the chick from the egg is far too late in its existence to look for them. Observant persons who have themselyes been practically engaged in the rearing of Poultry, will immediately recognise the newly- hatched chick of each variety with which they are acquainted. Nay, when an egg has been accidentally broken after a fortnight’s incubation, I have myself been able to decide of what breed it would have been, had it survived. I believe that a comparison of the newly- hatched young of all wild birds would lead to the like result. The only chance of finding any such analogies, or rather confusion, would be obtained by examining the embryos of birds, reptiles, and fishes, two or three days after the hatching of the ovum had commenced, But it is now time to say a few words on matters of more general interest, As regards the money profits derivable from Poultry I have been reproached with confining myself to general statements, with avoiding details, abstaining from figures, and checking enterprise by mere assertions. But I had rather receive the praise of having deterred one sanguine Speculator from obtaining an uncertain profit, than incur the blame of having urged twenty bold adventurers to a | | | | PREFACE. XV certainly unprofitable outlay. In consequence of recent discoveries and new modes of management, we are to have companies formed for the production of poultry on a grand scale! When the apparatus is got together, and the capital expended, and it is found that, after all, the chickens cannot be reared, except by twos and threes, instead of by scores and hundreds, the bubble must burst, like thousands of others: meanwhile, we, pro- phets of evil, premise that the more densely poultry are congregated, the less profitable will they be; the more thickly they are crowded, the less will they thrive. Could I put together in figures a statement of great profits that would satisfy my own mind, and that I could honestly recommend as a guide to others, I would most gladly undertake so agreeable a task. Many of the debtor and creditor accounts of Fowl-keeping that have been published, will not bear close examination by those acquainted with the minutiz of the matter. It is not supposed that such accounts are put forth with a wilful intention to deceive; but they are no more to be relied on, for practical purposes; than would a ship- owner’s account of his herring-fishing, if it made no allowance for an occasional bad catch, the loss of a boat, or a set of nets worth 1007. ; to say nothing of wear and tear, and the widows of drowned fishermen to assist. Nothing is so likely as specious detail to mislead those whose experience is insufficient to detect its incomplete- ness, not to say its error. Thus, one writer (in the Agricultural Gazette, Sept. 23, 1848) tells us, that by adopting the regimen advised by one good Mrs. Doyley, Hens may be made to sit four times in xvi PREFACE. the season. Each time they sit, they are to hatch two broods, by the withdrawal of the first clutch of chickens, and the replacing them with fresh eggs. The kidnapped chicks are to be reared by an artificial mother ; we are told how. If the Hen hatches only ten chickens from each set of eggs (which is considered a low estimate) this gives eighty chickens per annum from each Hen. Let us work the scheme out a little further. If one Hen will produce eighty chickens, for the expense of maintaining five hens, (and, we suppose, a Cock, though he, poor fel- low, is not mentioned), we get four hundred chickens in the course of the year, or more than one per diem upon our table. Who would not keep five Hens, and even submit to the additional cost of a Cock, if necessary ? But, alas! if we reckon, eight sittings of three weeks each amount to twenty-four weeks, or nearly half the year. Now the Hen that incubated twenty-four weeks in one twelvemonth, and hatched only fifty chicks during the same period, would deserve a gold medal and a pension for life from the Royal Agricultural Society, Hens are made of flesh and blood, not of wood, hot water, iron, and macintosh. Whenever I have over- tasked the incubating powers of Hens, they have invariably suffered for it afterwards: it has taken them the whole autumn, and perhaps the winter also, to recover their health. One fine Dorking Hen, who had been over-worked in this way, never sat afterwards, and laid but indifferently, though we kept her for the two following summers, Another gentleman, having read somewhere that certain Cochin-China Fowls attain great weights, and that the Hens lay two, sometimes three, eggs a day, declares his PREFACE. xvii intention of speculating in the purchase of a large number of them, with the hope of eventually forming a Poultry Company, without knowing either how old these very heavy Fowls were, if they existed, and without making sure that these feats of laying were ever performed, except upon paper. These are the sort of details which I certainly am cruel enough to cast cold water upon, and disrespectful enough to treat with ridicule. But the Reader has listened long enough to this præ- ludium ; we will strike the final chords, which sound harmoniously to our own ears. Thanks are the burden of our closing song. Without great help, this volume, though small, could not have been written at all; without great encouragement, the writer would certainly not have ventured to send it forth, It is scarcely possible to mention by name all the persons to whom he is indebted for hints, and answers to inquiries. The addition of initials to many paragraphs is an attempt to avoid some part of the reproach of strutting in borrowed plumes ; they will also perhaps serve as props to sustain his own otherwise tottering edifice : but it would be an ungrateful omission not to mention specially the obligations under which the Author feels himself bound to the Editors of The Gardeners’ Chronicle and Agricultural Gazette. CrinGLEFoRD HALL, Norwicu, October, 1848. | | | | f | l CONTENTS. PEA-FOWL i : ` : ; : MUTE SWAN (CYGNUS OLOR) . ; : TURKEY . ; ; ; : ‘ CANADA GOOSE. i ; ‘ EGYPTIAN, OR CAPE GOOSE (CHENALOPEX EGYPTIACUS) MUSK (COMMONLY MUSCOVY) DUCK GUINHA-FOWL . i ; s ; ‘ CHINA GOOSE (CYCNOIDES) 3 ; ; : WHITE-FRONTED, OR LAUGHING GOOSE . , $ WIGEON é i : Š ; ‘ : THAL z $ è $ , ; : WHITE CHINA GOOSE Žž . i ; è : TAME DUCK. / > $ DOMESTIC GOOSE Ž . . . : : i BERNICLE GOOSE . . . . ‘ , BRENT GOOSE ; . - . EGGS - i : ; ; DOMESTIC FOWL. : : : . . REARING AND MANAGEMENT OF FOWLS . . . 102 108 117 132 145 150 152 172 207° pataia CONTENTS, CLASSIFICATION OF FOWLS SPANISH FOWL . SPECKLED DORKINGS CCOHIN-CHINA FOWL MALAY FOWL PHEASANT-MALAY FOWL GAME FOWL . GOLDEN AND SILVER HAMBURGH FOWLS CUCKOO FOWL BLUE DUN FOWL LARK-ORESTED FOWL POLAND OR POLISH FOWL BANTAM FOWLS . ` RUMPLESS FOWL, OR RUMKIN SILKY AND NEGRO FOWLS FRIZZLED, OR FRIESLAND FOWL ORNAMENTAL POULTRY. PEA-FOWL. « Were it known, that a paradise or a humming-bird could be seen alive in any of our zoological gardens,—birds which, however beautiful, sink into insignificance before this,—half London would flock to see them; nay, if one of those monstrous abortions—a double-headed chicken, which we have more than once read of—could have been fed and reared, the owner would have made his fortune! Thus does curiosity, in minds essentially vulgar, predominate over the lasting sense of beauty ; and the glories of the visible heavens, no less than the splendours of the peacock, are passed with indifference by unreflecting millions, because both are every-day sights.”—Swainson. So charming is the perfect combination of grace and splendour displayed by these most lovely creatures, so excellent is their flesh, so hardy are they in their adult state, that, were it not for certain inconveniences attendant upon keeping them, and also, perhaps, for the indifference with which everything not rare is apt to be regarded by us, they would be sought after as never- tiring objects wherewith to gratify the sense of sight. Who does not remember the thrill of delight with which, in childhood, he first gazed upon their brilliant gorgeous- ness? Peacocks and gold fill our youthful imaginations as fit elements of the magnificence of Solomon; and no fable more fitly chose its decorations than that which attached these feathered gems, in association with the B 2 PEA-FOWL. many-coloured Iris, to the train of imperial Juno. Even the hen of the Pea-fowl, though sober in her colouring, is most harmoniously shaded, and every movement is coincident with the line of beauty, The causes which disincline many persons from indulging themselves with the daily spectacle of this inapproachable model of beauty, are, in the first place, the depredations that it commits upon gardens. For this there is no help. The dislike which these birds have to enter a fowl-house, and their decided determination to roost on trees or lofty buildings, prevents our exercising a control which should restrain them from mischief til] an eye can be kept upon their movements. At the first dawn, or at the most unsuspected moments, they will steal off to their work of plunder. With great conve- niences for keeping them in their proper places, I was compelled to choose between the alternative of banishing a very perfect and familiar pair, or of depriving my children of strawberries. A friend, who has been well acquainted with their habits for years, informs me, as the result of his experience, that their cunning is such, that, if frequently driven away from the garden at any par- ticular hour of the day or evening, after a certain time they will never be found there at that special hour, but will invariably make their inroads at daybreak. Asa last resource I have tried ejecting them with every mark of scorn and insult, such as harsh words, the cracking of whips, and the throwing of harmless brooms. Most domestic animals, and I believe many birds, are sensitive of disrespectful usage, and would feel as a severe rebuke the manner in which they were thus turned out. But Pea-fowl are incorrigible marauders. A mansion, therefore, whose fruit and vegetable garden is at a distance, is almost the only place where they can be kept without daily vexation. The injury they do to flowers is comparatively trifling ; though, like the Guinea- fowl, they are great eaters of buds, cutting them out from the axillæ of leaves as cleanly as a surgeon’s dissecting- PEA-FOWL. 3 knife would. They must also have a dusting-hole, which is large and unsightly ; but this can be provided for them in some out-of-the-way nook ; and by feeding and encou- ragement they will soon be taught to dispose themselves into a tableau vivant, at whatever point of view the tasteful eye may deem desirable. No one with a very limited range should attempt to keep them at all. But, where they can be kept, they should be collected in con- siderable numbers, that their dazzling effect may be as impressive as possible. Many gardenless castles and country-houses on the Continent would lose their semi- . barbarous and semi-ruinous appearance, by employing these birds as an embellishment. For they are not less pleasing to the eye than the Stork, which is so much encouraged ; and they would render in great measure the same services, namely, the destruction of small reptiles, with the advantage of remaining at home all the year round. Willughby gives a ludicrous quotation from Johannes Faber in reference to the serpent-eating pro- pensities of the Pea-fowl, which is too coarse, both in idea and expression, for modern republication, though not otherwise objectionable. Something of the kind is popularly believed, perhaps not utterly without truth, respecting Herons and eels, But to these Continental resi- dences it should be understood that no vineyard be at hand. The greenness and sourness of the grapes, which caused the Fox to refrain, would be but a weak argument with them. A Peacock that was suffered to go at large in the dirty back lanes of a town struck me as being more out of its place than any I had ever seen. A charming instance of the ornamental use of Pea-fowl was to be seen a dozen years ago (and perhaps may still) at the Palace of Caserta, near Naples. There is an English garden,* admirably laid out, on a slope com- manding the most enchanting views. In one part is a * The gravel for some of the walks was brought from Kensington. B2 4 PEA-FOWL. small piece of water, in the midst of which is an island planted with trees and shrubs, and inhabited by numerous Pea-fowl.* Of course they must be pinioned, to prevent their escape. My own birds had no hesitation in flying to and fro, in order to visit an island similarly situated, and which is cultivated as a kitchen-garden. People may talk about Humming-birds, Sun-birds, Birds of Paradise, or any other feathered beauty, but nothing can equal the magnificence of a Peacock in full flight, sweep- ing across a sheet of water, or glancing in the sunbeams among the topmost branches of a fir-tree. A second objection to them is their alleged wanton destructiveness towards the young of other poultry,t a * “ Itaque genus alitum nemorosis et parvulis insulis, quales obja- cent Italie, facillime continetur. Nam quoniam nec sublimiter potest, nec per longa spatia volitare, tum etiam quia furis, ac noxiorum animalium rapine metus non est, sine custode tuto vagatur, majorem- que pabuli partem sibi acquirit. Foomine quidem sud sponte, tanquam servitio liberate, studiosius pullos enutriunt: nec curator aliud facere debet, quam ut diei certo tempore, signo dato, juxta villam gregem convocet, et exiguum hordei concurrentibus objiciat, ut nec avis esuriat, et numerus advenientium recognoscatur. Sed hujus possessionis rara, conditio est.”—“ Therefore this genus of fowls is most easily kept in the small woody islands which lie before Italy. For since they can neither fly very high nor for a long distance, and since there is no fear of loss by thieves or vermin, they can safely go at large without a keeper, and find themselves the greater part of their food. The Pea- hens, indeed, as if freed from slavery, will of their own accord feed their young with greater care; nor should their keeper do more than call the flock towards the farm at a certain time of the day by a known signal, and throw them a little barley as they assemble, so that the birds may not be famished, and their number may be told. But the opportunity of using this kind of landed property is rare. ”™—CoLUMELLA, lib. viii. cap. xi. This is very like our pheasantries in alder and osier carrs. The whole chapter is curious and worth reading. F Columella gives a fanciful. reason for keeping Hens that have families of chickens from coming near Peahens that have broods, which relieves the latter at least from all blame. “ Satis autem con- venit inter auctores, non debere alias gallinas, que pullos gui generis educant, in eodem loco pasci. Nam cum conspexerunt pavoniam prolem, suos pullos diligere desinunt et immaturos relinquunt, perosæ videlicet quod nec magnitudine, nec specie pavoni pares sint,’?— PEA-FOWL. 5 propensity respecting which I have heard and read* such contradictory statements, that they can only be reconciled by the hypothesis that the Peacock becomes more cruel as he advances in life, and also that males of this species vary in disposition; that, as the human race has pro- duced individuals of such diverse tempers, so the Peacock family includes individuals of different degrees of blood- thirstiness. My own bird, three years old, was perfectly inoffensive; others have been mentioned to me equally pacific. On the other hand, the list of murders undoubt- edly committed is long and heavy. The friend before mentioned says,—‘ I have known them kill from twelve to twenty ducklings, say from a week to a fortnight old, during one day; but if they came across a brood of young chicks or ducklings a few days old, they would destroy the whole of them.” And yet, in the face of all this condemnatory evidence, we now and then see a favourite bird, with neck of lapis lazuli, back of emerald, wings of tortoiseshell, and tail outshining the rainbow, in some old-fashioned farm-yard, the pet of his mistress, who is perhaps the most successful poultry-woman in the neighbourhood, and whose stock shows no sign of any murderous thinning. The Peahen, who, when she has eggs or young, seems really a more guilty party, is not in general even suspected. So true is it that one man may steal a horse, while another must not look over the hedge. The hen does not lay till her third summer; but she then seems to have an instinctive fear of her mate, mani- fested by the secresy with which she selects the place for “ Authors are sufficiently agreed that other Hens, which are rearing young of their own kind, ought not to feed in the same place. For after they have seen the brood of the Pea-fowl, they cease to cherish their own, and desert them while still immature, clearly hating them because neither in size nor beauty are they comparable to the Peacock.” —Book viii. chap. xi. f : * See the “ Penny Cyclopadia,” article Pavonide :—“ I have never kept Pea-fowl, nor seen chicks just hatched, but have witnessed the abominable cruelty of the father of the family in knocking a whole brood of them on the head, when nearly a quarter grown.” =—H. H, Sea EEE a PEA-FOWL. her nest ; nor, if the eggs are disturbed, will she go there again. She lays from four or five to seven, If these are taken, she will frequently lay a second time during the summer, and the plan is to be recommended to those who are anxious to increase their stock. She sits from twenty- seven to twenty-nine days. A common Hen will hatch and rear the young ; but the same objection lies against her performing that office, except in very fine long sum- mers, for the Pea-fowl, as for Turkeys ; namely, that the poults require to be brooded longer than the Hen is able conveniently to do so. A Turkey will prove a much better foster-mother in every respect, The Peahen should of course be permitted to take charge of one set of eggs. Even without such assistance she will be tolerably suc- cessful, Those students of poultry who carefully read the “ Guinea-fowl ” and the “ Turkey,” and industriously carry the instructions there given into practice, will have no difficulty in rearing Pea-chicks. A friend writes, — “ As soon as the young could be decoyed into a shed or house, we always caught them, and gave to each poult three black peppercorns.” I only mention the practice for the sake of condemning it ; and must most decidedly, though deferentially, recommend that it be omitted, according to the rational theory of poultry-rearing. They are engaging little things, most elegant in appearance, and very tame and confident. I have heard of one reared under a Hen, that would sit upon the hand to peck flies from a window. The same wise provision of nature to be noticed in the Guinea-fowl, is evinced in a still greater degree in the little Pea-chicks. Their native jungle, tall, dense, sometimes impervious, swarming with reptile, quadruped, and even insect enemies, would be a most dangerous habitation for a little tender thing that could run and squat merely. Accordingly they escape from the egg with their quill feathers very highly developed, In three days they will fly up and perch upon any thing three feet high ; in a fortnight they will roost on trees or the tops of sheds, and at a month or six weeks you would PEA-FOWL. 7 see them on the ridge of a barn, if there were any inter- mediate low stables or other building that would help them to mount from one to the other. It must be a clever snake that would get at the cunning little rogues when they were once perched on the feathery branch of a bamboo. Old birds received from a distance are diffi- cult to settle in a new home. Housing they do not like, and will scarcely bear. Most liberal feeding is the best bond of attachment, but even with that they will unex- pectedly be off, and will perhaps be stopped on the high road, like other suspicious vagrants. Were I myself to recommence keeping them, I would procure a sitting of eggs, place them under a Turkey hen, and have the pleasure of watching their whole progress, literally ab ovo. Those who are impatient to have a full-grown stock, should still select birds not more than three years old. The Peacock is capable of considerable attachment to man; and, as might be expected of a bird that has been reared in captivity for several thousand years, may be rendered very tame. By regular feeding he may easily be made to take his place as a liveried attendant at the front door, to show himself, and await his meal with great punctuality. My own bird would come instantly to my call, and not only eat from my hand, but, if I held a piece of bread as high in the air as I could reach, would fly from the ground to take it. The hen was more timid, and could never be induced to give such proofs of confidence. She occasionally erects her tail like the hen Turkey, nor does such display appear to denote the absence of any feminine virtue. The natural disposition of the Peacock is selfish and gluttonous, and it is only by pampering this weakness that he can be persuaded into obedience and attach- ment. He is vain, and at the same time ungallant. He is far from manifesting the politeness and attention which the common Cock shows towards his mates. The Peacock will greedily snatch, from the mouth of his hens, those titbits and delicate morsels which the Cock -PEA-FOWL. would either share with his favourites, or yield to them entirely. The Peahen, in return, cares less for her lord and master, and is more independent of him when once her amorous inclinations have been indulged. She then regards the display of his tail, his puffings and struttings, and all the rattling of his quills, with the coolest indif- ference. Nor does he seem to care much about er admi- ration, or to make all this exhibition of his attractions to secure her notice, but is content if he can get some asto- nished Hen, or silly, bewildered Duck, up a corner, to wonder what all this fuss is about. Like other vain cox- combs, he expects the lady to make the first advances. Although occasionally cruel, the Peacock. is shy of fighting, particularly when in full plumage ; nor do they so frequently engage with each other as with birds of a different species, such as Drakes, Cocks, &c. One, out of feather, was seen to keep up a three hours’ struggle | with a Musk Drake; had it been in full plumage, it }| would not have shown fight at all. Their probable term ii of life is eighteen or twenty years. They may be eaten as poults at nine months old. If fatted, they should be shut up together with any Turkeys that they may have been in the habit of associating with, and fed exactly the same. If confined alone, they pine. They are, however, an excellent viand at a much more advanced age, and withou tany fatting, provided they have been well fed, and killed at a proper season (that is, when they are not renewing their plumage), and are hung up in the larder a sufficient time before cooking, A disregard to these points has probably led to their being so little appreciated as a dainty dish.* Shotten herring, black * With the ancient Romans they were esteemed as first-class delicacies :— ‘¢________ Num esuriens fastidis omnia preter Pavonem rhombumque ?”— Horace, Serm. I. 2. “Should hunger on your gnawing entrails seize, Will Turbot only or a Peacock please ?”—FRaners. “ Quintus Hortensius was the first who gave the Romans a taste for PEA-FOWL. 9 salmon, pork in the dog days, and illegal oysters, might, in a similar manner, give a bad repute to other good things, did we not manage them better. When dressed for table, they should be larded over the breast, covered with paper, roasted at a gentle fire, and served with bread-sauce and brown gravy, exactly like Partridges or Pheasants. When moulting, extra diet and variety of food, including hemp-seed and animal substances, is most desirable. In general the Peahen makes her nest on the bare ground, amongst nettles or rank weeds; sometimes she ! chooses the shelter of a young fir tree. The egg very much resembles that of the Ostrich in miniature, being smooth, but indented all over with little dimples, as if pricked with a strong pin. It is somewhat bigger than a Turkey’s egg, bulging considerably at the larger end, of a dull, yellowish white, and occasionally, but not always; i spotted, or rather freckled, with a few small reddish | > brown marks. The new hatched chicks are striped on the head and neck with alternate stripes of dingy yellow and pale brown ; the legs are of a dusky yellowish tinge. There are two varieties of the common Pea-fowl, namely, the Pied and the White. The first has irregular patches of white about it, like the Pied Guinea-fowl, the remainder of the plumage resembling the original sort. ‘The White have the ocellated spots on the tail faintly visible. These last are tender, and are much prized by ‘ those who prefer rarity to real beauty. They are occa~ | sionally produced by birds of the common kind in cases i where no intercourse with other White birds can have | taken place. In one instance, in the same brood, whose Peacocks, and it soon became so fashionable a dish, that all people of fortune had it at their tables. Cicero pleasantly says, he had the boldness to invite Hirtius to sup with him, even without a Peacock. ‘Sed vide audaciam, etiam Hirtio cenam dedi sine pavone? M. Aufidius Latro made a prodigious fortune by fattening them for sale.” —Franers, Note to Serm, I. 2. aan e PEA-FOWL. parents were both of the usual colours, there were two of the common sort, and one White cock and one White hen. Nervous and fastidious persons object to their cry or call, which, indeed, is not melodious ; and a strip of woollen cloth is sometimes hung round their neck in the fashion of a collar, to silence them ; the appendage, how- ever, is anything but an ornament, and the effect is not permanent. But I must take it to be an unhealthy symptom, when any natural or rural sound is displeasing to the ear. The cawing of rooks, the pattering of rain, the hum of bees, the pealing thunder, the laughter cf children, the breezy rustling of a grove, the lashing of wintry and the sighing of summer waves, have all been felt by listeners in their happiest moods to be most musical —to have an effect more touching than any music ; and should, therefore, be welcome, instead of distasteful, to the healthy sense. And even the screams of Pea-fowl, ring- ing from a distance on a summer's evening, will suggest an abundance of images and recollections that cannot fail to interest any but the most dull and unimaginative minds. The common Peacock was, till lately, supposed to be the only species of its genus; but both preserved and living specimens of the Aldrovandine Pea-fowl, which for a long while was supposed fabulous, have recently been introduced into this country. But there is also a third sort, which, on account of the confusion of synonyms, has not received from naturalists the attention it deserves. The difficulty has been increased by the conversion of “ Japan ” into “ Japanned ” by some writers. Japonensis, or Japonicus, are not, however, synonymous with Jaya- nensis or Javanicus ; Java and Japan are countries sepa- rated by many hundreds of miles of distance, even by many degrees of longitude and latitude. Yet Sir W. Jardine, in the “ Naturalist’s Library” gives the Pavo Javanensis as the same as the Japan Peacock. His figure represents the Java bird, as also does that in Griffith’s PEA-FOWL. 11 edition of Cuvier's “ Animal Kingdom,” although the title “ Japan Peacock” is added to it. It is possible that both species may be indigenous in one or both of these respective countries, in which case the specific names are not wrong, but only confused. I merely want to call attention to the distinctness of the sorts, whatever name shall be assigned to them. I am not aware that any figure of the real Japan bird has yet been published. Both Sir W. Jardine, and the late Mr. Bennet, in his “Gardens of the Zoological Society,” have so well described and figured the Java species that I need not here particularise its striking peculiarities. Living Japan Pea-fowl are now (June, 1848) to be seen in London. In the Zoological Gardens they are labelled “ Pavo cristatus,” as if they were only a variety of the common sort ; but Mr. Hunt, the intelligent and experienced head keeper, is inclined to consider them as specifically distinct, an opinion which is also strongly maintained by the Messrs. Baker, the eminent dealers in rare birds. It is for naturalists to decide the point; but if the Japan breed be only a variety, it is a very marked and permanent one, not departing from its character for generation after generation. The Japan Peacock is somewhat less in size than the common, the white patches of naked skin on the cheeks are smaller, the wings are blue-black, edged with metallic green instead of being mottled like tortoise-shell, the imbricated feathers on the back are smaller and less conspicuous, and the whole colouring of the bird is of a darker tone. The hen, on the contrary, is much lighter than the common sort, with a tendency to spangled, perhaps even ocellated, plumage all over her body, and she has scarcely any glistening feathers on the neck; her size is also inferior, and her proportions more slender. The records of the introduction of the Java Pea-fowl into Europe are clear and satisfactory; not so with respect to the Japan sort. By some the credit of the importation has been given to Lord Amherst, Sir Robert 12 PEA-FOWL. Heron, quoted in the “ Penny Cyclopedia,” states,—“ The japanned breed are, I believe, a variety originating in England. In Lord Brownlow’s numerous breed. of common, white, and pied, the japanned suddenly, in my memory, appeared amongst them. The same thing | happened in Sir J. Trevelyan’s flock of entirely the | į common sort; also in a breed of common and pied, given | by Lady Chatham to Mr. Thornton ; and in both cases ‘| to the extinction of the previously existing breed.” — Zool. _ Proc. 1835. This would appear conclusive did we not | know the misadventures that have to be encountered by | any newly imported rarity in the interval between its arrival in England and its safe delivery into its owner’s hands. For instance, at the time when Chrysanthemums were being introduced from China at great trouble and expense, the first known specimen of the Paper-White variety, a novelty then, though nearly discarded now, was bought in Covent-garden market for sixpence; and the unique Ocellated Turkey, the glory of the Paris Museum, after surviving the voyage from the West Indies, was killed on the Thames by some one who, doubtless, intended to pluck and roast it. I must, there- fore, attribute the sudden appearance of the J apan Pea- fowl to other causes than to a mere freak of Nature. The common kind has, probably, been tamed and domesticated ever since there have existed human eyes to admire it. Here is one tradition of its transmission to us :— Aeyérar è ó rads èr Bapßdpwv eis “EXAnvas KomoOAva. Kal xpóvov ToAAOD onávios dy, eira eelkvuTo Toy avOparwy TOS ptAo- Kaos (0900, kal APhyynct ye rats vouunvias èdéxovro ral tvdpas kal yuvaikas emt Thy ioroplay avray, kal Thy Oéav mpdcodov elxoy* ery.avro dé Toy Uppeva Kal Tov ORAvV Spaxudv xilwv, ds *Avtipay êv TG mpds "Epactatparov Adyw pnot.— Ailian, lib. v. c. 21. “ The Pea-fowl is said to have been brought from the barbarians into Greece; and being for a long time rare, it was then exhibited for money to the admirers of beauty ; and at Athens both men and women were PEA-FOWL. 13 admitted to examine it every new moon, and a profit was made of the show, and, as Antiphon says in his speech against Hrasistratus, the male and female were valued at 1,000 drachmee”—which, if we take the drachma at Thd., is 811. 5s. the pair, a high price certainly, but not more than a pair of very rare birds, such as the Ocellated Turkey, or the Apteryx, alive and in health, would fetch now in England, at the first bidding. The remarkable point in this account is that the creature was not gratuitously exhibited, like the triumphal spoils of conquered nations, bnt was made a wild beast show, puicbod, for a consideration, and as a matter of gain, One would like to know the price of admission, what sort of brass band performed before the doors, and whether the pictorial representations hung outside at all rivalled the brilliant display now made by Mr. Wombwell. But the most extraordinary Peacock in the world, altogether unique, and likely to remain so, whose value -reduces that of the Athenian birds to a mere nothing, and which is only to be approached in this respect by the goose which lays golden eggs, if we could find her, is kept at Windsor Castle; and long may her Majesty Queen Victoria continue in possession of it. Not being larger than an ordinary hen, it consumes but little food ; and does no mischief in the gardens, being rarely permitted to go abroad, It would be cheap at 30,0007. ; for indepen- dent of its worth as a trophy, and the strange history attached to it, its tail is made up of diamonds, and the rest of its body is composed of other costly materials, of which gold is the least precious. It is a specimen of Ornamental Poultry, not unsuitable to the monarch of Great Britain ; but if we may presume to guess at the tastes of the royal owner, more pleasure is derived from the sight of its living models than from the inanimate splendours of this glittering toy, although it does so far— Outshine the wealth of Ormus and of Ind, Or where the gorgeous East with richest hand Showers on her kings barbaric pearl and gold.” THE MUTE SWAN.—(Cyvenvs OLOR.) Txz Swan is, beyond all question, the bird to place, as a finishing stroke of art, on the smooth lake which expands before our mansions. It is perfectly needless, however delightful, to quote Milton and others, lauding the arched neck, the white wings, the oary feet, and so on. Its superb beauty is undeniable and acknowledged ; and, to borrow an apt metaphor, we do not wish, in the pre- sent volume, to thresh straw that has been thrice threshed before, to repeat how lovely the Swan is on the silver lake, “ floating double, swan and shadow;” for we might thus run, scissors in hand, through the whole Corpus Poetarum. Our object, in short, is simply to point out the best mode of managing them and keeping them. Any one who lives on the banks of a moderately sized stream, and has a Swan-right on that stream, will pro- bably also have the means of keeping a Keeper, who will save him every trouble. But there are a great many people, occupiers of large farm-houses, villas, country mansions, or moated residences, persons, perhaps, of con- siderable wealth, who have no manorial rights, no ancient Swan-mark belonging to their estate, but who would willingly pay for the maintenance of a pair of Swans and their annual brood of Cygnets, on inclosed or artificial waters, if they knew but how to order them aright. Imprimis, then, they are called “Tame Swans,” “ Domestic Swans :” never were epithets more inappro- priate, unless we agree to say, ‘ tame Hyeena, tame Wolf, tame Rat, domestic Pheasant, domestic Swallow.” They will come to their keeper’s call, and take food from his hand ; they will keep at home, when they are com- pletely prevented from ranging out of bounds abroad : so far they are tamed and domesticated, but no further, and never will be. To compare the relations which exist THE MUTE SWAN. 15 between them and Man, with those by which we retain the Goose and the common Fowl, is about as correct as to believe that the same temper and disposition influence the faithful Dog and the wildest Jackal of the wilderness. I put the case thus strongly, in order that it may be understood clearly. The comparisons may be a little exaggerated, but they will serve to raise'the real truth into higher relief. Many systematic naturalists, of deserved reputation, have not been aware of the fact. Professor Low, speaking of the effects of domestication on birds, says,—‘‘ The Swan, the noblest of all water- fowls, becomes chained, as it were, to our lakes and ponds, by the mere change of his natural form.”— Domesticated Animals of the British Islands, Introduction, p. liv. Chained, indeed! I should like the learned professor to see a pair of unmutilated Swans cleaving the air with extended pinions. He evidently takes the Swan to be a domesticated bird, and that it will not fly away, instead of that it cannot. Listen to this :—“ I have never kept Swans myself, but those of some rela- tives a few miles off sometimes pay us a visit, performing their flight in an incredibly short time.” H. H.— Waierton, who speaks only so far as he has seen, in his vivid essays gives a similar account of the proceedings of a Swan, whom he indulged in the free use of his wings, for the gratification of observing his graceful evolutions in the air. But, at present, the discovery, and intro- duction, and dispersion of a species of Swan, that would be really tame, and stay at home without being tied by the wing, as prolific, and having as valuable plumage and flesh as the common sort, would be one of the most valuable boons which the great London societies could now offer to the proprietors of limited portions of fluvial and lacustrine waters. The following extract may give a valuable hint; unfor- tunately it does not state whether the pinioning knife had been used. “ At the residence of the Governor of the province at Calix, I saw three Swans, which, having been THE MUTE SWAN. taken when young, were as tame as Domestic Geese, to which these birds are so much alike in every respect, that I can have no doubt of their belonging to one genus, Their bill is flat and black at the extremity, as well as on the margins, convex and somewhat angular in the middle, so far at least that the swelling part terminates in an angle. The middle is fleshy where the oblong nostrils are situated; the base flat or quadrangular, with two sinuses pointing upwards, and pale-coloured. The mar- gin is toothed, just like the Concha Veneris (Cypreea).” —Linnæus's Tour in Lapland, vol. ii. Mr. Yarrell, who, of all naturalists, is perhaps best acquainted with the nice distinctions that separate the various species of Swans, seems to refer the above account to the Hooper or Whistling Swan. l A service might thus be rendered to ceconomical orni- thology by fairly trying the Hooper, of whose tameability Linneus speaks so highly ; it is less graceful, however, bearing more resemblance in its attitudes and carriage to the Canada Goose. There is also the Polish Swan, that produces white Cygnets; and Bewick’s Swan, if to be procured alive, might originate a stock of great value for limited pieces of water, since it averages in size one-third less than the Cygnus Olor. None of the species can be less domestic than the Mute Swan, if it would really open its heart to us; but, being a “ game ” bird, of great pluck, it carries off matters with a high hand, and tem- porarily conceals its hatred of the trammels in which it is compelled to live; the very webs of its feet being some- times slit, to retard it in its unkind chase after other water-fowl. For those to whom amount of purchase- money is of little importance, there is the Black Swan, a creature of much gentler manners, less in size, less tyran- nical to other birds, and indeed altogether taking in its ways. It is strange that their price should still continue so high, as they breed in this country, frequently, though not abundantly, under circumstances that must be con- sidered unfavourable. I suspect from the localities in THE MUTE SWAN. 17 Australia where they were originally found, that they would thrive all the better for an occasional marine diet, and, like the Shelldrake, enjoy now and then a treat of cockles and shrimps, with perhaps a barrowful of sea- weed as the joint on which to cut and come again. Those who wish to make themselves acquainted with the habits and dispositions, as well as the mere figures and descriptions of animals, should be informed that all living creatures cannot be divided into two distinct ranks of Wild and Tame, as, for example, the Horse and the Zebra among quadrupeds, and the Blue Rock Pigeon and the Ringdove among birds, just as they would separate the red and the white men on a chess-board, but that there is a most perplexing intermediate multitude, neither wild nor yet tameable, but usually spoken of as “ familiar ” or “ half-domesticated,”’ a term without meaning—dodging, like camp-followers, on the offskirts of human society, but determined never to enlist in the drilled and disciplined ranks, playing the game of “off and on,” but always ending with the “off.” Such are, among many others, the Partridge, Rats and Mice, the House Sparrow, the Water Hen, and at a still greater distance, I believe and fear, the whole genus of Swans proper. Is there nothing resembling this amongst the human race? The mention of the word “Gipsy” will set thought-capable persons a-thinking. “Oh! but they have been neglected, uneducated, ill-cared for ! Educate! Educate!” say well-intentioned persons, who seem to declare that the soul of man is a carte blanche, and who would thereby, unthinkingly, deny the doctrine of Origi- nal Sin, as asserted by the Church of England. But I have seen enough both of bird and mankind to know that the heart of neither is a carte blanche—you cannot write on either, whatever it may be your pleasure there to inscribe. Your duty, in both cases, is to take them as you find them, and make the best you can of them for their interest, which will be found eventually to coincide with your own. c 18 THE MUTE SWAN, Swans, then, are ferce nature to all intents and pur- poses ; of that there is no doubt, whatever the law of the matter may be; but although capricious birds, wild in their very nature, like most living creatures they have ‘some attachment to place. The first point, therefore, is to settle them agreeably in their destined home. Old birds are less likely to be contented with a new abode, unless very distant from their former one, and are seldom to be obtained in the market. Cygnets may be procured every autumn ; if they have been put up to fat for some time, so much the better, as they will the sooner become tame, and contented with a small range—which I am supposing to be the thing required. The disadvantage of having Cygnets to begin swan-keeping with, is, that they are less ornamental till they have attained their perfect plumage, and the proper orange colour of the bill, and that they do not breed till their third year, It is not, however, generally known that the male is capable of increasing his kind a year earlier than the female ; so that a brood may be obtained from an old hen, and a cock- bird in his second year. In selecting a pair, the great thing is to make sure of having two birds of opposite sexes. Two cock-birds will not live together, and their mutual aversion would soon show that all was not right; but two hens will—which is the case also with Pigeons. A friend of mine procured a couple of Swans ; they were affectionate and happy in each other’s society: in due time they made their nest and laid. Great were the expectations ; such a plenty of eggs! both Swans assi- duous in sitting—rather suspicious that—the produce addle-eggs. The two ladies could not raise up a family between them. In selecting any water-birds whose plumage is alike in both-sexes, and which cannot therefore be distinguished with certainty, the best rule is to see them in the water, and take that which swims deepest for the female, and that which floats with greatest buoyancy for the male, remembering that all creatures of the masculine gender THE MUTE SWAN. 19 have the largest lungs in proportion to their size. The neck of the cock-bird is usually thicker. An experienced eye will, besides, detect a certain feminine gentleness and modesty in the one, and an alacrity and boldness in the other, which is a tolerably safe guide, as well as an appropriate and becoming attribute to the creatures them- selves. It is cheaper in the end to give a fair price for a pair of old, well-seasoned birds to begin with, than to undergo the care, the delay, and perhaps the disappoint- ment of nursing Cygnets through their youth of three long years’ duration. Brightness and clearness of the orange on the bill, and full development of the knob or “ berry,” “indicate the complete maturity of the bird. Supposing, however, the reader to have obtained two Cygnets that are not mere friends, but actually husband and wife, he will recollect that those reserved for fatting are never pinioned, lest it should check their progress, and he will request the operation to be performed before he has them home, in order that they may have the fewest possible disagreeable reminiscences connected with the spot where they are to spend their lives. There are two ways of pinioning birds ; at the elbow joint, and at the wrist. The amputation of the part of the wing which corresponds to our hand is quite sufficient to prevent the flight of the short-winged species, as far as migration is concerned, disfigures them less than the closer pruning, and still leaves them the means of escape from a dog or a poacher, allows them now and then in their gambols to fancy they are free, and to enjoy a sort of half-run, half-fly from the lawn into the water. Kindness, comfort, and good feed- ing must be employed to keep them at home as far as possible ; but the loss of the last joint only of the wing will not be enough to prevent Swans from joining any travelling companions who are on the way to the Arctic circle, I should recommend the female to be pinioned at the wrist, the male at the elbow, trusting to their mutual attachment to keep the less-maimed bird from deserting her mate. But however it be done, let it be set about in c2 20 THE MUTE SWAN, a workmanlike manner ; no chopping nor hacking, nor hewing, nor butchering. Many Cygnets are annually killed by the clumsy way in which their wing is lopped off. They suffer from the shock to their nervous system as much as from the hemorrhage, A skilful operator will feel for the joint, divide the skin, and turn the bone neatly out of the socket. I will allow him to shed just one drop of blood—no more. I would be as hard upon him as Portia was upon the flesh-cutting Jew. “This bond doth give here no jot of blood ; The words expressly are a limb of swan ; Take then thy bond, take thou thy limb of swan ; But, in the cutting it, if thou dost shed One drop of cygnine blood, thy clumsiness Shall brand the name of ‘ Bungler’ on thy back. Therefore, prepare thee to cut off the limb, Shed thou no blood ; nor cut thou less, nor more But just the very limb ; if thou tak’st more Or less than just the limb, thou shalt bewail The consequence,” If any brook runs into and from the pond where they . are to remain, their escape through that channel must be prevented by sheep-netting, hurdles, pales, or other fencing, which should be continued some distance inland, lest they should walk away, if they cannot swim away. This precaution will be found particularly necessary if there is any main stream in the immediate neighbourhood. A feeding-trough may be fixed for them in the pond, in the part where it is most desirable that they should be accustomed to display themselves. Those who are fastidious about. the sight of such an object, or who wish to have it thought that the Swans keep so much in view from purely disinterested motives (from simple affection to their masters, not from the greedy love of corn) may contrive to have it hid beneath a bank, or behind a tree or shrub. The trough must be fixed in the pond on two firm posts, within arm’s length of the shore, raised. high enough from the water to prevent Ducks from stealing THE MUTE SWAN. peal the food contained therein, having a cover which lifts up by hinges, and so forms a lid, to keep out rats and sparrows, and open only in front. Many persons, however, feed their Swans by simply throwing the corn into shallow water. They will skim the surface for the light grains which float, and then submerge their heads in search of that which has sunk. Should any Carp (that fresh water Fox) be occupants of the same lake, it will be found that they soon learn the accustomed hours of feeding, and will come to take their share along with their feathered friends. But it is cruel to locate a pair of Swans, for the sake of their beauty, in a new-made piece of water whose banks and bottom are as barren and bare as the inside of a hand-basin. A load or two of water-weeds should have been thrown in, the previous spring, to propagate them- selves and afford pasturage. Sometimes after an old established sheet has been cleansed at a great expense, it is thought that Swans would now look well there, and they are forthwith turned in, to be starved ; whereas they would thankfully have undertaken the cleansing task for nothing. Swan-food exists in proportion to the shallow- ness and foulness, not to the extent and clearness of the water. A yard of margin is worth a mile of deep stream ; one muddy Norfolk broad, with its oozy banks, labyrinthine creeks, and its forests of rushes, reeds, and sedges is better, in this respect, than all “ the blue rushing of the arrowy Rhone,” or the whole azure expanse of the brilliant Lake of Geneva. In confined waters Swans require a liberal supply of food in the autumn, when the weeds run short. It should be remembered that at this season they have to supply themselves with a new suit of clothes, as well as to maintain their daily strength. If they have not been taught to eat corn, and have not acquired a notion of grazing, they will perish from starvation as undoubtedly as a canary bird neglected in its cage. Young birds are apt to be fanciful or stupid, and have not sense enough to come on the bank and eat grass, or pick up the 22 THE MUTE SWAN. threshed corn that may be thrown down to them. Sometimes they may be tempted with a lock of un- threshed barley or oats, thrown, straw and all, into the water, which they will instinctively lay hold of and devour. Cygnets which have been previously put up to fatten, will give little or no trouble in this respect, besides the advantage of being accustomed to the near approach of a keeper. In one week I lost two Swans, a Cygnet, and a year- old bird, from the consequences, I fear, of a few days short diet at moulting time. Suspecting foul play from some ill-natured person, I caused a post-mortem examina- tion to be made of that which died last ; but, in a literal sense, nothing could be found. The poor thing was empty and emaciated, though it had been fed with corn two or three days before, and though it had only to ascend a bank a foot high to enjoy a plentiful feast of good grass. It had been seen sailing about in apparent health and spirits the previous evening, and my mind is not yet quite satisfied about the subject. The following remarks may perhaps afford some clue in similar cases. “ Swans wandering by night, in search of watercresses chiefly, are always in danger from the different vermin which prey upon poultry and game—weasels, stoats, polecats, &c. And Swans thus destroyed exhibit no wounds or marks upon the body ; but upon the head and neck, where, on a minute inspection, the wounds are discovered through which the vermin have sucked the life-blood, leaving the bulk so little affected that the feathers are unruffled. The wounds appear scarcely the size of a pin’s head, but are generally above half-an-inch deep. Geese and Turkeys are also liable to be destroyed by these nocturnal marauders, which, like all beasts of prey, sleep throughout the day.”—Moubray on Poultry, 8th Edition, p. 128. One would doubt the fact of so large a bird as the Swan falling a victim to a wretched little weasel. But a relation of mine had a pair of Canada Geese, birds THE MUTE SWAN. 23. little inferior in size to the Swan, which in the breeding season were suffered to shift their quarters from the farm- yard, their usual abode, to a neighbouring broad, where he had rights. After a time one bird returned home alone, and its missing mate was at length discovered, half- decomposed, on a sedgy islet in the broad in such a posi- tion as to indicate that it had been surprised and killed by one of the larger weasels, a stoat or a polecat. Considerable difference of opinion has been entertained respecting the diet of the Swan ; some supposing it to be exclusively vegetable, others believing that fish enter largely into it. My own observations tend to prove that a very considerable part of their nutriment is obtained from minute insects and molluscs. The sluggish, weedy waters, where Swans thrive best, abound with such crea- tures ; and the Whale is a sufficient example that the size of the prey is no index to the magnitude of the creatures that subsist on it. Swans fall off in condition very rapidly in autumn, however liberally they are supplied with corn, immediately that the temperature drops to any extent, and the minor inhabitants of the pools disappear into their winter retreats. A very small fish might now and then not come amiss to them, and spawn would be greedily devoured. A Swan must be considerably more destructive in this respect than the poor little Water Ouzel, which is so bitterly persecuted along the salmon- streams of Scotland, for the alleged injury it does to the ova of the fish. The seeds of grasses, and the soft starchy parts of aquatic plants, are no doubt a considerable portion of the daily ration of the Swan. It seems to prefer sloppy, half-decayed vegetation, to that which is fresh and crisp. Spare garden-stuff, spinach, and such like, thrown out for them, is liked all the better for having lain soaking at least twenty-four hours, that is, in such time as it has become sodden and attacked by small fresh-water shell-fish. If their mode of feeding is watched, it will be found to countenance the popular belief that many birds live “ by suction ;” they appear to THE MUTE SWAN, suck down the pappy food, which pleases them best, rather than fairly to crop and swallow it, Consequently, there is no bird in the least comparable to the Swan as an agent for clearing a pond of weeds. It does not, however, eat all weeds indiscriminately ; it seems scarcely to touch the water-lilies, white and yellow, except perhaps in a very young state, though it no doubt checks their increase by seed. These, when too numerous, may be uprooted by means of a long pole armed with an iron claw, and used either from the shore or from a boat ; once detached from their moorings they may be floated away. Swans seem to prefer, first, what we call the lower forms of vegetation, the Confervee and the Chara- cee, then the Callitricha Aquatica, or Water Starwort, and the long list of Potamogetons, or Pond-weeds; the rhizomata of all sorts of reeds, rushes, arrow-heads, &e., are greedily torn up and devoured. A lake of half an acre in extent is quite large enough (with the assistance of corn, refuse vegetables, and grass-clippings, when the weeds run short) not only to maintain a pair of Swans, but to supply an acceptable lot of fat Cygnets every autumn, Swans have been kept successfully in a much more limited space. But in one instance within my own knowledge, where the extent of water is not a quarter of an acre, the annual brood, as soon as they entered the pond in company with their parents, were devoured by some enormous pet pike that equally shared their owner’s favour—a hint that one cannot breed Swans and fresh-water sharks at the same time and place. The Swan, consuming the submerged refuse of plants, is thus the scavenger of the waters, as the Hyzena and the Vulture are of the land. In such countries as Holland, and still more about the deltas of large rivers in the south of Europe and western Asia, their influence must be very beneficial. Indeed, we are compelled to believe that they have been bountifully created to fulfil this office of cleans- ing the half-stagnant water courses. Unlike the old dragons that could exhale a pestilence and infect a whole A ee ae er THE MUTE SWAN. 25 district with their breath, these winged tenants of the marsh swallow many a plague and fever up. Nota little miasma has travelled harmlessly down the throats of Swans. They can fatten on poisons, although ignorant of King Mithridates, his antidote. A curious instance of the animal diet of the Swan once occurred to myself. The common brown shrimp, it is well known, inhabits, and thrives in, waters less strongly impregnated with salt than the open sea, which is not the case with several other species; and I was desirous of trying whether it were possible to stock with them a piece of water absolutely fresh. A quantity were procured and ‘brought home in a fish-kettle of tidal river-water ; but the heat of the weather at the time was much against the success of the experiment. On arriving at their journey’s end, the great majority were dead. They were all, how- ever, turned out together: a few swam off apparently unaffected by the unwonted element, and were never seen or heard of afterwards; the rest sank to the bottom ; when one of my Swans, expecting her feed of corn, sailed up, and began feasting on the dead shrimps, crushing them in her bill before she swallowed them, and appear- ing much to relish her meal. The difficulty there sometimes is in getting Swans to eat corn, or to graze like Geese, shows that either diet is with them an acquired taste. At the proper age and season they will show a dispo- sition to breed, if well fed, although restricted within comparatively narrow limits. As soon as they have decidedly fixed upon the spot for their nest, it will be an assistance to take them two or three barrowfuls of coarse litter. Sedges and rushes are the best, with perhaps a few sticks, which they can arrange at their own pleasure. The number of eggs laid will vary from five or six to ten, but the number of Cygnets hatched seems, like the fall of lambs, to depend much upon the season and the weather of the few preceding months. One year the three pairs of Swans nearest to me had each a brood. of nine— 26 THE MUTE SWAN. twenty-seven Cygnets in only three families. But this is above the average. I have, however, seen seven reared on a very small moat. It is better not to gratify any unnecessary curiosity respecting the eggs ; indeed the parent birds will hardly allow it. The cock makes great show, and often more than show, of fight against inter- lopers. A blow from his pinion on land is better avoided ; and in the water he would bother the strongest swimmer to escape from his fury. I was once attacked by a Swan when walking too intrusively near his lady’s lying-in bed ; he was keeping guard by sailing in short tacks backwards and forwards before her, but he left the water to give me a forcible hint to go about my own business. The only thing was to meet the threatened danger ; so seizing his neck in one hand and his outstretched wing in the other, I tossed him as far into the middle of the stream as I could. He seemed alittle astonished for a few moments, but lashing the waters into foam he would have renewed the attack had I not speedily withdrawn from his domi- nions. Coming to close quarters with them is the surest mode of defence. The blow of a Swan’s Wing, to take effect, must hit at a certain distance. It is clear they are mischievously minded at such times; but I think that the real danger to be apprehended has, from policy, been exaggerated, that it may act as a sort of guardian dragon to the tempting fruit of the Hesperides. There are pos- sibly persons living who would not be unwilling to have it believed that Hares and Pheasants are most formid- able creatures to encounter, especially on moonlight nights. The Cygnets when first hatched are of a slaty grey, inclining to mouse colour. The time of incubation is six weeks, or thereabouts. A common notion in Norfolk is that the Cygnets cannot be hatched till a thunder-storm comes to break the shells, and that the hen will go on sitting till the birth of her young ones is complimented with that portentous salute. A Swan might boast with Owen Glendower— THE MUTE SWAN. 27 « At my nativity The front of heaven was full of fiery shapes, Of burning cressets; know, that at my birth The frame and the foundations of the earth Shook like a coward.” Let us not reply in the contemptuous language of Hot- spur, nor altogether reject the popular idea; the close sultry weather which sometimes for two or three days precedes a tempest, would hasten the development of chicks that were nearly arrived at the hatching point. What effect electrical oscillations have on animal life we as yet know not, but our own feelings tell us they have some. The happy parents will charge themselves with the entire maintenance of their tender young, if they have but the range of a large extent of river banks and shallow water ; will lead them up the quiet ditches, point out the juicy blade, the floating seed, the struggling insect, the sinuous worm ; will then steer to shoals left by some circling eddy, and, stirring up the soft sediment with their broad feet, show that minute but nutritious particles may thence be extracted. As hunger is satisfied and weariness comes on, the mother will sink in the stream till her back becomes an easy landing-place, and the nurslings are thus transferred in a secure and downy cradle to fresh feeding-places. But in a restricted beat they must not be left altogether to themselves. A gently sloping bank will enable them to repair at pleasure to the grassy margin. The old ones must have plenty of corn, which they will by and by teach their young to eat; tender vegetables from the kitchen garden, such as endive, lettuce, or cress, will help to sustain them, besides attracting those soft-bodied water-creatures that are of all food the most needful. Pollard frequently scattered on the surface of the pond will be of material assistance ; and whatever it is found that they will eat, let them have in the greatest abundance, Their growth is rapid ; their weight should be considerable, Sin e N | l ee (i iii i | 28 THE MUTE SWAN. with but little time to acquire itin. The period can- not be extended much longer than from June to the end of November. By Christmas they must all either be eaten, or have emigrated, when the parents will begin to direct their thoughts forward to a succeeding family. A fat Cygnet is a capital dish, and deserves a higher repute than it generally obtains. Tts stately appearance on the table is alone worth something. Those who have only a good sized pond—say from a quarter to half an acre of water—may rear and fat an annual brood. In so small a space, the old birds must of course share with their young the extra supply of fatting corn; but they will get through the winter the better for it, and be more prolific in the spring. Neither they nor their Cygnets should at any time be allowed to become poor. When Cygnets are removed from their parents to be fatted in a regular Swan-pond, it is usual to separate them at the end of August or the beginning of September. At first grass is thrown into the water to them twice a day with their other food ; but this is not continued for more than a fortnight. A coomb of barley is the established allowance to fat each Swan. The corn is put into shallow tubs set just under water. The birds are con- sidered worth from 10s. to 12s. each when they are “hopped” or <“ upped” from their native streams ; but when brought into prime condition, 27., formerly 2/. 2s. They. may occasionally be had for less, in which case they make a cheap as well as a handsome dish to set before a large dinner party. Their weight in the feathers varies from 25 lbs. to 28Ibs., and sometimes, though rarely, 30 lbs. They are never better than in the month of October, when the gastronomical inquirer, who is as yet unacquainted with their merits, is recommended to give them a fair and impartial trial. They may be had till Christmas, after which they are good for nothing, A bird weighing 28 lbs. before Christmas, has been known to shrink to 17 or 18 lbs. by the end of January, in spite of high feeding. Therefore, make hay while the sun THE MUTE SWAN, 29 ; j shines, Mr. Epicure. As, in the spring, the snowdrop gives way to the primrose and the violet, so, in autumn, the Swan yields its place on the board to the Turkey and the Guinea-fowl. If to-day is lost, to-morrow the opportunity will have flown, in higher concerns than mere eating and drinking. Now—or, perhaps, never. The Swan-feasts that seem to have left the most pleasing impressions on the palates of the partakers have been solemnised in the course of the month of September. As to the mode of dressing, those artists who are skilled in the treatment of venison will easily cook Swan, viz, with a meal crust over it to keep the gravy in. Instead of stuffing it with sage and onions, like a Goose (vulgar if condiments to vulgar birds), use rump-steak chopped fine, vq and seasoned with cayenne and salt. When browned, and served to an admiring circle, let it have rich gravy and currant-jelly, the latter hot as well as cold, in respectful attendance.—And is that all? No; the best remains behind. The hash next day is worth riding twenty miles to eat. Nay, more; the giblets make soup before which ox-tail sinks into insignificance. The mere writing about it has made me hungry. Mr. Yarrell gives . some information on the subject, which I will not wrong him by pirating. See “ British Birds,” vol. ili. p. 127. He has also collected a curious list of swan-marks. I will mention two instances of Swans doing well in a very small scope, as an encouragement to those who are inclined to establish a couple of these fine birds where there may be but little apparent accommodation for them. The first occurred some years ago at Bircham Tofts in Norfolk. A single Swan, driven out or wandering from Houghton, it was supposed, but never known exactly, took possession of a pond, and not being claimed remained there several years. It was not fed, but we may believe that in hard winters some charitable farmer threw it a little dross corn; and so it continued happy and well. But in the same parish there was, at a short distance, another and a smaller pond, to which the Swan would erie ss: - anas ees eee 30 THE MUTE SWAN. occasionally walk when provisions fell short in his original residence. In one of these removals he was stoned by the village boys, and so much injured that he died, Being desirous to know whether there was any peculiarity in the aquatic vegetation of the pond, which rendered it capable of supporting such a large bird so constantly, I requested to have a sample of weeds taken from it at random, and was most obligingly supplied by the occupier. But there was nothing which may not be found in every other pond in the county—brook-lime, persicaria, myosotis, and the commonest weeds. How far worms, larvee, and small molluscs may abound, I am unable to say. The second case, which must be well remembered by all travellers from Norwich to London by the Bury road, is at Long Stratton, in Norfolk, where Swans have for some years been kept in the smallest piece of water I ever saw occupied by them, and yet they have always appeared healthy and contented. The water is exposed to the high road without any fence whatever, and the Swans became so tame as to eat from the hand of casual passers by. But owing to ill-nature, or mere mischievousness, perhaps, there has been asad succession of individual specimens. About thirty years back a pair of Swans were put into this very small pond or canal, which lies before the mansion of the Rey. Ellis Burroughes. This pair remained there about fifteen years, but never bred, probably on account of their limited scope and confined and exposed situation. However, they kept the water quite free from any weeds, and also fed upon the grass that grew by the water’s edge. They were besides con- stantly supplied with a quarter of a peck of oats every morning during the summer months, and in winter their supply of dry food was increased in proportion to their wants. They also got many odd bits of bread from the neighbours, which they would eat if thrown into the water ; they were very fond of the leaves of crowfoot, and were familiar enough to take them from the hand. After THE MUTE SWAN. ol this it is grievous to be informed that one of them was stoned to death (as was believed), and that at the end of a few months the survivor met with a similar fate. It is melancholy to reflect that there should be in the world envious and malignant people who mutter to themselves in this sort of spirit: “ Ah! you’re a very great person, keeping Swans and so on! You think they look very grand sailing before your house! You’re getting up very fast! Other people can’t keep Swans, but other people are just as good as you. You think nobody can let you down a peg, do you? We’llsee!” And next day the ornament of the neighbourhood is found mutilated or murdered. It is needless to go through the list of fresh arrivals that were successively maltreated and destroyed, but we will hurry on to the last, a beautiful and majestic bird, of which, after a residence of four or five years, my informant writes, “for shame be it spoken, some villain broke his neck, and now (March 1848) there are none.” This last instance enables us to make a rough estimate of the cost of maintaining a pair of Swans. Those at Stratton had a quarter of a peck of oats a day in summer. But in less incommodious places, and where garden rub- bish was supplied, two pecks a week would be a fair allowance for all the year round. This amounts to 64 coombs per annum. Take the oats at 15s. per coomb, as, if they are to be bought, the best are the cheapest, and the annual expense is 4/. 17s. 6d.—a sum soon spent in cleaning an artificial lake by human labour. On the other hand, half a dozen Cygnets ought to be reared, and cannot be set down as worth less than 10s. each. Any farmer who has plenty of tail corn, will have no occasion to buy anything for them, as he can send a little of that to be ground for the Cygnets, and it will be better than heavier meal, that would not float so surely. But if the swan- keeper be hospitably disposed, and choose to eat the Cygnets with his friends, instead of selling them to the dealers, the brood cannot very ‘justly be brought over to the credit side of his cash account at least. 32 THE MUTE SWAN. The learned have discovered a number of mysterious convolutions of the trachea in this genus, but it is doubt- ful whether all their researches have enabled them to match the subjoined amusing instance from the “ Hortus Sani- tatis,” or “ Garden of Health,” a rare old book printed in 1491, and enriched by numerous illustrations, that are attributed to Albert Durer. THE TURKEY. “There is no poor animal so beset with ignorant and destructive empiricism, on its first introduction into life, as the Turkey.”—A. W. Ir we call to mind the many and valuable acquisitions, from both the animal and vegetable kingdom, which have been made subservient to the use of Man within compara- tively a very recent period, it is not too much to believe that others, of nearly, or quite equal value, still remain to reward the labour and pains of a persevering search. There is the whole of central Africa, central Australia, great part of China and northern India (which have already afforded us so much), and innumerable half-explored or unexplored islands, all waiting to be ransacked for our benefit. And without depending on those distant regions, we know not yet what we may find at home ; seeing that the delicious Seakale—an esculent whose merits are yet unknown to many a family of competent means living in retirement—has only within the last few years sprung up under our very feet; and the Capercali, by an easy importation, has been rescued from extinction in Great Britain. Amongst the living tributaries to the luxury of Man, the Turkey is an example of the results yet to be expected from the exploring spirit of our day. It is the most recent, and, except the Hen and the Goose, the most valuable of our domesticated birds. We may, indeed, call it quite a new introduction ; for what, after all, is a period of three hundred years, compared with the time during which Man has had dominion over the earth and its brute inhabitants? The obscurity which hangs over the transmission of the Turkey from America, and which there is little chance of clearing away, except by industrious ferreting amongst old family records and memorandum D 34 THE TURKEY, books, shows that those who brought it to the Old World had no idea of the value of what they were importing ; but probably regarded it like any other remarkable production of nature—a Macaw ora Tortoise. The young would be distributed among friends with the same feeling’ that Golden Pheasants and such like are with us; these again would thrive and increase, and the nation would suddenly find itself in the possession of a race, not of pleasing pets, but of a valuable, prolific, and hardy stock of poultry. Such I take to be the history of the Turkey in England ; and the Zoological and Ornithological Societies may here- after find that some creature that was disregarded, or undervalued, or even yet unobtained, will prove unex- pectedly domestic and profitable (it may be the Cereopsis, some of the Indian Polyplectrons, or the elegant Honduras Turkey); to further which great object of their associa- tion they cannot do better than communicate spare speci- mens, on the most liberal and encouraging terms, to such persons as they believe competent fairly to test their value. The varieties of the domesticated Turkey are not very distinct. The most so is the Norfolk; the others may all be swept into what is called the Cambridge breed (thus including the Bustard breed and the Dutch copper- coloured), which, however, is as much cultivatedin Norfolk as the old local stock, and birds of which kind often pass for true Norfolks, because they have been procured from that county. The real Norfolk Turkey is more hardy, but less ornamental than the others, and of smaller size. It is entirely black, except the red skin about the head, and a brownish tip to the feathers of the tail and some of those of the back. This gives the bird a rusty appearance ; like an old piece of well-worn cotton-velvet. The Cambridge sort, when black, havea beautifully shining bluish tinge, like a well polished boot. The chicks of the Norfolks are black, with occasionally white patches about the head ; those of the Cambridge variety are mottled all over with brownish grey, and are of taller and slenderer proportions. | | | THE TURKEY. ; 35 The white individuals of either variety are accidental ; this colour is scarcely permanent in their offspring ; they are tender, not pleasing to every eye, and altogether not to be recommended. The plumage of the Cambridge breed varies very much ; sometimes it is entirely made up of shades of reddish-brown and grey, when it is called the Bustard-breed ; sometimes of grey, black, and white, but frequently it approaches very nearly to what we see figured as the wild bird. In the “ Naturalist’s Library,” the hen of the Wild Turkey, copied from Audubon, is represented with a hairy tuft like that of the cock hanging from her breast. I have not seen this in the tame variety. A hen in my possession that will be four years old next spring (1848) has no symptom of its appearance. But I am thus informed by one on whom I can depend. “ You will not, I think, find the tuft of hair on the breast of the hen Turkey to be a matter of rare occurrence. I have one who shows it now, though she is net yet three years old.” —A. W. The reason why the Turkeys seen in our poultry yards do not vie in splendour of plumage with their un- tamed brethren, is that we do not let them live long enough. For the same cause we seldom witness the thorough development of their temper and disposition. A creature that does not attain its full growth till its fifth or sixth year, we kill at latest in the second, to the evident deterioration of our stock. But let three or four well selected Cambridge Turkeys be retained to their really adult state, and well fed meanwhile, and they will quite recompense their keeper by their beauty in full plumage, by their glancing hues of gilded green and purple, their lovely shades of brown, bronze, and black, and the pearly lustre that radiates from their polished feathers. In default of wild specimens, birds like these are sought to complete collections of stuffed birds. The demand for such large birds among the fowl- dealers, and the temptation to fat them before they arrive at this stage, are so great, that few farmers’ wives can D 2 36 THE TURKEY. resist sending their eighteen or twenty pound “ stag ’’* to market, while a young cock of the year, they think, will answer every purpose next spring as well. Some even deem it an extravagance to keep a Turkey-cock at all, if they have not more than two hens, which they would send on a visit of a day or two to a neighbour who has amale bird. A case is recorded in which such a visit, made in the July or August of one year, was available for the eggs of the succeeding April. The time when the hens require this change of air in spring, may be known by their lying down on the ground, as if they were unwell; doing so immediately again, if taken up and made to walk on, which apparent languor is accom- panied by a lack-a-daisical love-sick expression of countenance. Last Christmas we ate or gave away all our Turkeys (including a magnificent stag, whose image haunts us still), except one hen. The above-mentioned plan was necessarily adopted ; and the result was, from eleven eggs, eight chicks so strong as almost to rear themselves. The same system has been occasionally tried with Fowls, and has been found not to answer, When the hen has once selected a spot for her nest, she will continue to lay there till the time of incubation, so that the eggs may be brought home from day to day, there being no need of a nest egg, as with the common Fowl. She will lay from fifteen to twenty eggs, more or less. If there are any dead leaves or dry grass at hand, she will cover her eggs with these ; but if not, she will take no trouble to collect them from a distance. Her determination to sit will be known by her constantly remaining on the nest, though empty; and as it is seldom in a position sufficiently secure against the weather or pilferers, a nest should be prepared for her by placing some straw, with her eggs, on the floor of a convenient outhouse. She should then be brought home * In Norfolk, turkey-cocks are called stags from their second year upwards. THE TURKEY. 37 and gently and kindly placed upon it. It is a most pleasing sight to witness the satisfaction with which the bird takes to her long-lost eggs, turning them about, placing them with her bill in the most suitable positions, packing the straw tightly around and under them, and finally sinking upon them with the quiet joy of anticipated maternity. In the south of England from fifteen to twenty eggs may be allowed; but with the Norfolk variety, which is the smallest, and in a northern or eastern county, it is found that moderation succeeds better than over-greedi- ness of chicks. In this case thirteen eggs are enough to give her; a large hen might cover more; but a few strong, well-hatched chicks are better than a large brood of weaklings that have been delayed in the shell, perhaps twelve hours over the time, from insufficient warmth. At the end of a week it is usual to add two or three Fowls’ eggs, “to teach the young Turkeys to peck.” The plan is not a bad one; the activity of the chickens does stir up some emulation in their larger brethren ; the eggs take but little room in the nest ; and at the end of the summer you have two or three very fine Fowls, all the plumper for the extra diet they have shared with the little Turkeys. Some ladies believe it necessary to turn the eggs once a day ; but the hen does that herself many times a day. Ifthe eggs are marked, and you notice their position when she leaves the nest, you will never find them arranged in the same order. A person who obtained ninety-nine chicks from a hundred eggs, took the great trouble to turn every egg every day with her own hand, during the whole time of incubation. The result appears favourable ; but, in fact, only amounts to this, that such officiousness did no harm with such a good, patient, quiet creature as the sitting Turkey is, but it would probably have worried and annoyed any other bird into addling her whole clutch. We will at once reject, as utterly absurd and unnatural, all directions to immerse or “try” the eggs in a pail of water, hot or cold. 38 THE TURKEY, In four weeks the little birds will be hatched ; and then, how are they to be reared? Some books tell you to plunge them in cold water, to strengthen them : those that survive will certainly be hardy birds.* Others say, “ Make them swallow a whole pepper-corn ;” which is as if we were to cram a London pippin down the throat of a new-born babe. Others, again, say, “ Give them a little ale, beer, or wine.” We know, unhappily, that some mothers are wicked enough to give their infants gin,. and we know the consequences. Not a few advise that they be taken away, and kept in a basket by the fire-side, wrapped in flannel, for eight or ten hours. Why take them away from her? She has undergone no loss, or pain, or labour: she wants no rest, having had too much of that already. All she requires is the permission to indulge undisturbed the natural exercise of her own affectionate instinct. Give them nothing ; do nothing to them: let them be in the nest under the shelter of their mother’s Wings at least eight or ten hours ; if hatched in the afternoon, till the following morning. Then place her on the grass, in the sun, under a roomy coop. If the weather be fine * Sir J. S. Sebright exposes the folly of endeavouring to make young creatures robust by undue exposure to cold and hardship, an experiment which some men and women are cruel enough to try upon their own offspring. Air and exercise increase the strength of any growing animal, but cold and hunger only dwarf and weaken. We see robust children in extremely poor families, not because they are poor, but because if they were not robust, they would not be alive at all. Sir John, in his “ Treatise on Improving the Breeds of Domestic Animals,” pp. 15, 16, says,— In cold and barren countries no animals can live to the age of maturity but those that have strong constitutions 5 the weak and the unhealthy do not live to propagate their infirmities, as is too often the case with our domestic animals. To this I attribute the peculiar hardiness of the horses, cattle, and sheep, bred in moun- tainous countries, more than to their having been inured to the severity of the climate ; for our domestic animals do not become more hardy by being exposed, when young, to cold and hunger ; animals so treated will not, when arrived at the age of maturity, endure so much hardship as those who have been better kept in their infant state.” THE TURKEY. 39 she may be stationed where you choose, by a long piece of flannel list tied round one leg, and fastened to a stump or a stone. But the boarded coop saves her ever-watchful anxiety from the dread of enemies above and behind— the carrion-crow, the hawk, the rat, the weasel ; and also protects herself—she will protect her young—from the sudden showers of summer. Offer at first a few crumbs of bread: the little ones, for some hours, will be in no hurry to eat; but when they do begin, supply them con- stantly and abundantly with chopped egg, shreds of meat and fat, curd, boiled rice mixed with cress, lettuce, and the green of onions. Melted mutton-suet poured over barley-meal, and cut up when cold; also bullock’s liver boiled and minced, are excellent things. Barley- meal, mixed thick and stiff with water or milk, nettle- tops, leeks, goose-grass, or cleavers, and many other things, might be added to the list ; but it is probable that afew of these may now and then be refused by some fanciful little rogues. I think I have observed that little Turkies do not like their food to be minced much smaller than they can swallow it; indolently preferring to make a meal at three or four mouthfuls to troubling them- selves with the incessant pecking and scratching in which chickens so much delight. But at any rate, the quantity consumed costs nothing; the attention to supply it is everything. The young of the Turkey afford a remarkable instance of hereditary and transmitted habits. From having been tended for many generations with so much care, they appear naturally to expect it almost as soon as they are released from the shell. We are told that young pointers, the descendants of well-educated dogs, will point at the scent of game without any previous training; and so Turkey-chicks seem to wait for the attention of Man before they can have any experience of the value or nature of those attentions. Food which they would refuse from a platter, they will peck greedily from the palm of a hand; a crumb which would be disdained if THE TURKEY. seen accidentally on the ground, will be relished from the tip of a finger. The proverb that “the master’s eye fattens the horse,” is applicable to them, not in a meta- phorical, but in a literal sense; for they certainly take their food with a better appetite if their keeper stays to distribute it, and see them eat it, than if he merely set it down and left them to help themselves. I believe this to be the case with more domesticated animals than we are aware of, and appears natural enough if we remember how much more we enjoy a meal in the society of those we love and respect, than if we partook of it in indifferent or disagreeable company. However, there can be no doubt that young Turkeys pampered and spoiled for about three hundred generations, have at length acquired an innate disposition to rely on the care of Man. Sir Hurnphry Davy, in his “ Salmonia,’’ believes that a like hereditary instinct is engendered even in fishes, believing that the trout, &., in unfrequented rivers, are more unsuspicious of artificial flies than those in the streams of Great Britain. “ This,” he Says, “ may be fancy, yet I have referred it to a kind of hereditary disposition, which has been formed and transmitted from their progenitors. “ Physicus.—However strange it may appear, I can believe this. When the early voyagers discovered new islands, the birds upon them were quite tame, and easily killed by sticks and stones, being fearless of Man ; but they soon learned to know their enemy, and this newly acquired sagacity was possessed by their offspring, who had never seen a man. Wild and domesticated Ducks are, in fact, from the same original type; it is. only necessary to compare them, when hatched together under a hen, to be convinced of the principle of hereditary transmission of habits—the Wild young ones instantly fly from Man, the Tame ones are indifferent to his presence.* * The young of rabbits, wild and tame, show this contrast more strongly than any creatures with which I am acquainted, THE TURKEY. 4] «“ Poietes—No one can be less disposed than I am to - limit the powers of living nature, or to doubt the capa- bilities of organised structures; but it does appear to me quite a dream to suppose that a fish, pricked by the hook of the artificial fly, should transmit a dread of it to its offspring, though it does not long retain the memory of it himself. f “ Halieus.—There are instances quite as extraordinary —pbut I will not dwell upon them, as I am not quite sure of the fact which we are discussing; I have made a guess only, and we must observe more minutely to establish it; it may be even as you suppose—a mere dream.” —(Pp. 221-2). At any rate, it is neither a dream nor a guess with young Turkey-chicks, to which we will now return. A sitting of wild Turkey’s eggs does not often fall into the hands of an American gamekeeper, if such a person there be, but I am afraid he would find his brood more shy and troublesome than the shyest of Partridges or Pheasants. The Turkeys, then, are hatched, and we are rearing them. Abundant food for the mother and her young, constant attention to their wants, are the grand desiderata. An open glade in a grove, with long grass and shrubs here and there, is the best possible location. A great deal is said about clear and fresh water for fowls; but I have observed that ifleft to their own choice, they will be as content and healthy with the rinsings of the scullery, or the muddiest pool, as with the purest spring. The long grass will afford them cover from birds of prey ; the hen will herself drive off four-footed enemies with great courage. I have been amused with the fury with which a mother Turkey has pursued a squirrel, till it took refuge in the branches overhead : what instinctive fear urged her I know not. Insects, too, will abound in such a situation. When the little creatures are three or four days old, they will watch each fly that alights on a neighbouring flower, fix it with mesmeric intensity, and by slow approach often succeed in their finalrush. But in the best position ee ea AI aR CR? OT | | | | \| | | I li 42 THE TURKEY. you can station them, forget them not for one hour in the day. If you do, the little Turkeys will for a time loudly yelp “ Ricordati di me,” “ O then remember me,” in notes less melodious than those of a prima donna, and then they will be sulky and silent. When you at length bring their delayed meal, some will eat, some will not. Those that will not, can only be saved by a method at all other times unjustifiable ; namely, by cramming: but it must be done most gently. The soft crumb of bread tolled into miniature sausages should be introduced till their crops are full. For drink, many would give wine. I advise milk. |The bird wants material, not stimulant. It has been actually wire-drawn, It has grown all the hours you have neglected it, without anything to grow from. Like a young plant in the fine spring season, it will and must grow; but it has no roots in the fertile earth to obtain incessant nourishment. The roots which supply its growth are in its stomach, which it is your office to replenish. Prevention is better than cure. Such a case ought never to occur in a well cared-for poultry-yard. Young Turkies are sometimes attacked by Fasciolæ, or worms in the trachea, but not so often as chickens. Cramp is the most fatal to them, particularly in bad weather. A few pieces of board, laid under and about the coop, are useful: sometimes rubbing the legs with spirit will bring the circulation back again. When two hens hatch at or near the same time, the two broods may be given to one mother, and the other hen turned out to range. If kept from the sound and sight of her little ones for a few days, she will not pine like the common Hen, but will shortly recommence laying, and so produce a later hatch that will be very acceptable the following February and March. Sometimes two hens will choose to sit and lay in the same nest, like the wild birds mentioned by Audubon; but it is better not permitted. They will not quarrel, but alternately steal each other’s eggs, and run the chance of addling all. A THE TURKEY. 43 frequent. practice is to hatch spare Turkeys’ eggs under common Hens. This answers well in fine dry summers, but not in wet cold seasons. The Turkey-poults require to be brooded much longer than chickens ; the poor Hen will be seen vainly endeavouring to shelter and warm young Turkeys nearly as big as herself, till she gives up the task in despair, and leaves them to shift for them- selves. It is better to transfer the chicks as soon as hatched to a Turkey, and give the Hen some Fowls’ eggs to go on with another three weeks, The improved and less rambling disposition of Turkeys that have been reared by a Hen is, unfortunately, all imagination, notwithstand- ing what Cobbett has so beautifully written on the subject. There may now and then occur an occasional apparent exception, before the real innate propensities of the bird have had time to manifest themselves, But the instinct of the Turkey is no more altered by this mode of educa- tion than the migrations of the Cuckoo are checked by its being brought up by a Hedge-Sparrow. The only way to keep Turkeys from rambling, is to feed them well and regularly at home. The time when the Turkey-hen may be allowed full liberty with her brood, depends so much on season, situa- tion, &c., that it must be left to the exercise of the keeper’s judgment. Some, whose opinion is worthy of attention, think that if the young are thriving, the sooner the old ones are out with them the better, after the first ten days or so. A safer rule may be fixed at the season called “shooting the red,” a “ disease,” as some com- pilers are pleased to term it: being about as much a disease as when the eldest son of the Turkey’s master and mistress shoots his beard. When young Turkeys approach the size of a Partridge, or before, the granular fleshy excrescences on the head and neck begin to appear ; soon after, the whole plumage, particularly the tail feathers, start into rapid growth, and the “ disease” is only to be counteracted by liberal nourishment. If let loose at this time they will obtain much by foraging, and THE TURKEY. still be thankful for all you choose to give them. Cara- way seeds, as a tonic, are a great secret with some pro- fessional people. They will doubtless be beneficial, if added to plenty of barley, boiled potatoes, chopped vege- tables, and refuse meat. And now is the time that Turkeys begin to be troublesome and voracious. What can you expect else from a creature that is to grow from the size of a lark to twelve or fourteen Ibs. in eight or nine months? “Corn sacks, coffers for oats, barn- swallowers, ill neighbours to peasen,” are epithets deservedly earned. They will jump into the potato ground, scratch the ridges on one side, eat every grub, wireworm, or beetle that they find, and every half-grown potato. From thence they will proceed to the Swedes ; before the bulbs are formed they will strip the green from the leaves, thereby checking the subsequent growth of the root, Ata subsequent period they will do the same to the white turnips, and here and there take a piece out of the turnip itself. They are seldom large enough before harvest to make so much havoc among the standing corn, as Cocks and Hens and Guinea-fowl, or they have not yet acquired the taste for it; but when the young wheat comes up in October and November they will exhibit their graminivorous propensities, to the great disadvan- tage of the farmer. The farmer’s wife sees them not, says nothing, but at Christmas boasts of the large amount of her Turkey-money. One great merit in old birds (besides their ornamental value, which is our special recommenda- tion) is, that in situations where nuts, acorns, and mast are to be had, they will lead off their brood to these, and comparatively (that is all) abstain from ravaging other crops. It is, therefore, not fair for a small occupier to be overstocked with Turkeys (as is too often the case, and with other things also), and then to let them loose, like so many harpies, to devastate and plunder their neigh- bours’ fields. Soon after Michaelmas, it will be time to think of fatting a portion of them. Some families require Turkeys THE TURKEY. 45 very early in the season; but they are like every other immature production, inferior in quality. To eat Turkey- poults is a wasteful piece of luxury; those who order them are occasionally deceived by a small hen of the pre- vious year. In the Roman markets hen Turkeys sell for a bajocco (halfpenny) a pound more than the cock ; and there are Turkey-butchers of whom you may buy the half or a quarter of a bird. A hen will be five or six weeks in fatting a large stag, two months or longer, to bring him to his full weight. The best diet is barley-meal mixed with water, given in troughs (see fig.), that have a flat board over them, =% Kode to keep dirt from falling in. A = = turnip with the leaves attached, or a hearted cabbage, may now and then be thrown down to amuse them, Some use plain oats, but barley-meal is preferable, acting more quickly. Cramming is unnecessary, though it may hasten the progress. In some parks, where there are immense quantities of mast, Turkies will get perfectly fat upon them ; but this, although no doubt profitable to the gudewife, is by no means pleasant to every palate after the bird has been on the spit. Beech-mast, how- ever, in small quantities, and as the substratum of fatting, rather improves the flavour than otherwise. The wind- falls and gleanings of hazel-nuts, which they swallow whole, do not come amiss. When they have arrived at the desired degree of fatness, those which are not wanted for immediate use must have no more food given them than is just sufficient to keep them in that state, other- wise the flesh will become red and inflamed, and of course less palatable and wholesome. But with the very best management, after having attained their acmé of fatting, they will frequently descend again, and that so quickly, and without apparent cause, as to become quite thin. Cock-birds play this game oftener than hens. The Turkey differs from the rest of our poultry in being fit for the table after its youth is past. Very few of the large 46 THE TURKEY. Turkeys that are brought to market are less than eighteen months old; many are double that age. Nor are they the worse, provided the lady of the house be informed of the circumstance, and so enabled to leave a due interim between the killing and the cooking. The hen Turkey, contrary to the statements of some writers, does now and then erect her tail and strut like the male, and that too without any diminution of her feminine virtues. The manners of the cock are not pre- possessing ; he is vain, ungallant, careless of his young, a bully though not always a coward, the most selfish crea- ture in the poultry-yard except the Musk Drake, occa- . . sionally even ferocious to weaker birds, sometimes also apt to be seized with odd fancies that render him useless ; from which the only moral that I can draw, is, when you are in possession of a quiet, handsome, and serviceable bird, do not greedily eat nor rashly part with him. Their supposed antipathy to the colour of red or scarlet I believe to be an unfounded prejudice ; or one about as well grounded as the alleged fear that a Lion entertains of a Cock. “That the Lion is afraid of a Cock, cannot endure the sight of him, yea, is terrified by his very crowing, hath been delivered and received by Ancients and Moderns with unanimous consent and approbation, and divers reasons sought and assigned for this antipathy : When as the thing itself is by experience found to be false.” — Willughby, p.155: a writer who, for the age in which he lived, is remarkably sceptical. The courtships of Turkies are conducted with a degree of indecorous , publicity and protracted vehemence, very objectionable in so large a bird. They display less individual attachment to Man than most other poultry, though they have equally, or more, thrown themselves on the protection of the race of mankind. They are called stupid; but mark the intel- ligence and amiability displayed by every look and action of a hen with her young. And yet little real alteration of her former manner is apparent. The strut that seemed foolishly pompous, now strikes us as justly proud and THE TURKEY. AT cautious ; the eye in which only affectation was apparent, now glances with anxiety and beams with tenderness. The discordant voice has now an object in its call, and may be heard almost to whisper in subdued notes of gentle affection. Whether in the faithful wife whom we cherish as ourselves, or in the poor bird that we rear, admire, and kill, a higher charm and elevation is added by the exer- cise of those holy affections which the beneficent Creator of all has given us for our comfort. THE CANADA GOOSE. Tux history of the Anser Canadensis, in a state of nature, and in captivity, has been so well and so fully . written by the ablest Ornithologists, both of England and America, that for me to attempt giving complete details would be either to restate the same facts in less appropri- ate language, or to commit a wholesale plunder of com- pilation upon the stores of preceding authors. But although unwilling to be guilty of this kind of pillage, I must necessarily make some reference to the labours of others. The bird is far too important, in every respect, to be entirely omitted in the present series; and there are a few points respecting it which ought to be brought into more prominent notice. Our poultry books mostly call it a variety of the Common Goose. But it is no more a variety of Goose than the Swan is a variety of Goose. Cuvier seems to doubt whether it is a Goose at all, and says that it cannot be properly separated from the true Swans. Audubon kept some three years, and though the old birds refused to breed in confinement, their young, which he had captured together with them, did. He | States their period of incubation to be twenty-eight days, which is a shorter time than one would have imagined. That circumstance alone, if correct, marks a wide distinction ; and every statement of his, which I have had the opportunity of testing, has proved accurate. I suspect that at a future time our scientific naturalists will deem it advisable to institute several new genera, for the reception of various water-fowl, that are now huddled into one or two ; particularly if they allow the diet and habits of the birds, as well as their external form, to influence the rules of classification. Canada Geese eat worms and soft insects, as well as grass and aquatic plants, which the typical Geese never THE CANADA GOOSE. 49 do ; with us they do not breed till they are at least two years old, and so far approach the Swan. Like the Swan, also, the male appears to be fit for reproduction earlier f than the female. But Audubon says, —“ That this tardiness | is not the case in the wild state, I feel pretty confident, for I have observed, having broods of their own, many | individuals, which, by their size, the dullness of their plumage, and such other marks as are known to the practised ornithologist, I judged to be not more than fifteen or sixteen months old. I have therefore thought that in this, as in many other species, a long series of years is necessary for counteracting the original wild and free nature which has been given them; and indeed it seems probable that our attempts to domesticate many species of wild-fowls, which would prove useful to mankind, have often been abandoned in despair, when a few years more of constant care might have produced the desired effect.” The Canada Goose, in spite of its original migratory habits, which it appears in almost every case to forget in England, shows much more disposition for true domestication than the Swan, and may be maintained in perfect health with, very limited opportunities of bathing. The manner in which these birds are usually kept here is neither consistent with their natural habits, nor calculated to develope their usefulness and merit. They are mostly retained as ornaments to large parks, where there is an extensive range of grass and water : so far all is as it should be. But they are there generally associated with other species of Geese and water-fowl, all being of a sociable disposition, and forming one heterogeneous flock. In the breeding season, they neither can agree among themselves to differ seriously, nor yet to live together in peace; the consequence is, that they interrupt each other's love-making, keep up a constant bickering, without coming to the decisive quarrels and battles that would set all right; and in the end we have birds without mates, eggs unfertilised, and now and then a few monstrous hybrids, which, however some curious persons E | | | | it i ee ee EEEE O THE CANADA GOOSE, may prize them, are as ugly as they are unnatural, and by no means recompense by their rarity for the absence of two or three broods of healthy legitimate goslings. Many writers, Audubon amongst others, from whom one would have expected a more healthy taste, speaks highly of the half-bred Canada Goose. They are very large, it is true, and may merit approbation on the table ; but with what- ever other species the cross is made, they are hideously displeasing. An old-fashioned plan of sweeping chimneys was to tie the legs of a Goose, pull her up and down by a string, and let her dislodge the soot by the flapping of her wings. This sounds cruel, and is not humane. But is it more barbarous to send a Goose down a chimney, than a child up it? This by the way: but all half-bred Canada Geese, that I have seen, look as if they had kindly under- taken to act as substitute for the poor little climbing boy or girl. N ot only are they suffered thus to herd with other varieties, but the broods of successive years are suffered to remain, and annoy, and encroach upon the privileges of their parents, which would be made all square by their natural migrations, till the park gets evidently overstocked to the most unpractised eye—it has really been so long before,—and then a few surplus individuals are disposed of, mostly at an age and season when they are good for little except their feathers, if for them. This mode of mismanagement accounts for the low esteem in which the flesh of the Canada Goose is held in England. I never met with any one who had tasted it here, that did not pronounce it detestable; though a gentleman who had lived on it for weeks in Canada, still remembered .it with relish. In one instance within my own knowledge, the extra stock were given to the poor, who could not or would not eat them. But it is impossible that the thousands of people who eagerly destroy the bird in its passage to and fro, can be mistaken in the opinion they have for years held of its value as an article of diet. Audubon gives the clue to our error; he says :—‘‘ The THE CANADA GOOSE. 51 goslings bred in the inland districts, and procured in September, in my opinion, far surpass the renowned Canvas-back Duck ”—the most famous tit-bit that America produces. He adds,—« Every portion of it is useful to Man ; for besides the value of the flesh as an article of food, the feathers, the quills, and the fat, are held in request. The eggs also afford very good eating.” Instead of this slovenly mode of breeding and feeding, which no one would think of adopting with the most ordinary Goose that ever grazed upon a common, I would, not unadvisedly, recommend every flock of Canada Geese to be in November immediately reduced to two, (in. order to guard against accident to one), or, at the most, three pairs, in the very largest park, and greatest extent of water, possessed by our nobility. Such pairs should be retained, as differ as much, in age, as may be consistent with their breeding powers; and also, if possible, those should be selected which have been observed to entertain a mutual dislike, in order that they may fix their nests at a distance from each other. They should previously have become attached to their keeper, though not to their co-mates, that they may suffer him to approach and feed them and their goslings liberally, and so bring them into thoroughly good condition by killing time. The stock-birds ought to be well supplied with corn during winter, when the grass grows little or not at all, to promote early laying; but they usually have just half-a-dozen kernels of barley thrown down to them now and then. No one can blame them, if they occasionally stray out of bounds in search of food ; but they are then accused of restlessness, shyness, and so on. They have been. literally starved out. It is no migratory impulse that sets them on the move, but over-crowding and under- feeding ; in proof of which, they will generally return of their own accord. I am speaking of birds that have been bred in captivity for several generations. Give them room and food enough, and they will stay contentedly at home. Curtail their supplies, and they become like E 2 4 i ta a | n ' ii PY i] iH if foo) toy 52 THE CANADA GOOSE. « darkness” in Spofforth’s well-known glee ; “ flies away ” is ever and again the burden of their song. The Canada Goose is a very large bird, and cannot be expected to live and get fat upon air. If a farmer’s wife were to treat her Turkeys as the Canada Goslings are usually served, they would at Christmas be just as tough, stringy, and uneatable, if indeed they survived the pinching regi- men so long. - Many people in the country make the same difference in their treatment of their ornamental fowls and their ordinary stock, that they do between their garden and their farm. The garden goes without a spadeful of manure from one end of a seven years’ lease to another; the turnip-field is glutted with guano and all sorts of good things. And so, exotic birds, procured at considerable expense, or received as highly valued presents from friends, are turned out into a grassy wilderness, to shift for them- selves as best they may, while the Turkeys and Goslings are taken as much care of as their master’s children. To a late inquiry after the fate of a pair sent to a distance, I got for answer, “One flew away and the other the Swan killed.” The growing Canada Geese must sensibly miss the abundance of their native breeding-places, when confined to these short commons; and it is not just in us, after such neglect and penuriousness on our part, to complain that they neither fat well nor reproduce at an early age. From each pair of Geese, properly looked after, between six and nine goslings may fairly be calculated upon ; which, killed in the autumn, when really plump, would be very acceptable at home, or as presents to unprejudiced persons. Managed thus, they would be little, or, according to Audubon, not at all inferior to a fatted Cygnet. And their picturesque effect, as accessaries in landscape gardening, would surely be greater in distinct uniformly-tinted groups, moving here and there across the scene with a decided object, namely, the conducting of their young, than as a motley crowd of diversely- coloured, variously-shaped creatures, huddled together in THE CANADA GOOSE: 53 unmeaning confusion, The woodland-park should be stocked on different principles to the aviary and the menagerie. Thus it is as a spot of pure white that the Swan gives such a sparkling brilliancy to the picture ; and the point of deepest shade (an adjunct of no less importance to the painter) may be made more intense and effective by the judicious employment of the Canada Goose. When a pair are received from a distance, the best way of settling them in their new abode is to confine them with hurdles and netting, as near as possible to the spot where it is wished they should eventually make their nest. Those from the hands of dealers will generally be cowed or timidly tame; but young birds, fresh taken from their parents, or adult ones that have been removed from their old home to a new one, will sulk and be shy. For the first few hours they need have nothing to eat, only plenty of water to drink. Their keeper should show himself to them, and speak to them kindly, as often as his leisure will permit; when he guesses that they begin to feel the cravings of hunger, a small handful of corn may be thrown down to them, a cabbage or two, and half-a-dozen earth-worms. It is, of course, supposed that they have been located on the grass. It is likely that at first they will not eat in the presence of a stranger; they may be left for an hour or so, when, if they have availed themselves of his absence, he may give them a little more from time to time. Proceeding thus by kindness, familiarity, and very frequent visits, he will soon secure their confidence, and be able to form his own judgment when they may be suffered to range at large. The young are active, self-helping little things. Their down is of a dirty grey, a colour very difficult to describe, with darker patches here and there, like the young of the China Goose. Their bill, eyes, and legs are black. They give no trouble in rearing. The old ones lead them to the places where suitable food is to be obtained. The THE CANADA GOOSE. keeper, by a liberal supply of corn, can bring them forward for the table better than by shutting them up to fat; and before Christmas the parents should be again alone in their domain. They will continue to increase in size and beauty for some years, and should have been pinioned at the first joint of the wing (reckoning from the tip) in the manner described for the Swan : the young that are to be eaten had better remain unmutilated. I believe that old birds killed in the autumn after they have recovered from moulting, and before they have begun to think about the breeding-time, would make excellent meat if cut into small portions, stewed slowly five or six hours with savoury condiments, and made into pies the next day. “’Tis the soup that makes the soldier,” say the French. By roasting or broiling similar “ joints” we lose the large quantity of nutriment contained in the bones and cartilages, besides having to swallow tough what we might easily make tender. The young (as well as the old) are in America salted and boiled ; they would probably please most palates better if cooked and served Swan-fashion. Audubon’s description of their manners is most vivid, and, as far as I have observed, quite accurate, and not at all exaggerated. The young male has a frequent disposition to neglect his own mate, and give himself up to unlicensed companionship. We had one that deserted his partner, to her evident grief, and made most furious love to one of a flock of Tame Geese, separating her from the rest, not permitting any other water-bird to swim near her, stretching out his neck stiffly on a level with the water, opening his red-lined throat to its utmost extent, hissing, grunting, sighing, trumpeting, winking his bright black eyes, tossing his head madly, and all kinds of folly. We did not choose to permit such conduct; but as often as we killed and roasted the object of his affections, he immediately selected another leman, invariably the ugliest of the surviving females. One short, squat, rough- feathered, ill-marked Goose, with a thick bill and a great THE CANADA GOOSE. pa grey top-knot, was his especial favourite. When the Michaelmas murders had extirpated the whole race he so admired, he returned reluctantly and coldly to his former love. The best remedy in such a case is to divorce them at once, and. exchange one out of the pair for another bird. THE EGYPTIAN, OR CAPE GOOSE. (CHENALOPEX EGYPTIACUS), “O BE xqvardant wérrcKrat of rd dvoua, Kal cikdtws èk roy Tod (dou ididy Te kal cuupuor. “Exe. piv yap Td elðos Td Tou xnvds, mavoupyla dé Siucadtara ùvTikpivoirro by TH GA@meKt* Kal Zor. uèv xnvos Bpaxdrepos, avdperdrepos Bk, kal xwpeiv dudce Seuss. Apdye- Tat your kal Gerd, kat atrovpoy, kal TA Aoimà, Bou adrod avrimard éort.— Euan, Lid. V., c. 39, “ The Goose-Fox has had its name compounded, and rightly, from the peculiar and innate qualities of the creature. For it has indeed the outward appearance of the Goose, but might most justly be compared to the Fox in being up to every thing : and it is smaller than a Goose and stronger, and a terrible one for a set-to. It drives off at least the Eagle, and the Cat, and the rest of such things as are hostile to it.” Tuts bird is one of the most desirable and interesting pets that an ornithologist can possess. Its mature plumage is gay and striking ; its habits and all its ways are so odd and amusing, as to excite the curiosity of any who have once caught a glimpse of it, Its Greek name, “ Chenalopex” (Goose-Fox), is most appropriate ; for, to the conjugal fidelity (as reputed, at least), long life, and other qualities of the Goose, it joins much of the cunning of the Fox, added to a certain degree of sly fun and humour, such as we find developed in Æsop’s Fables. One that I had was very fond of insulting a large Turkey-cock, in the midst of his gobbling, strutting, and display, by laying hold of him by the tail, and twisting him round, or pulling him backwards, in the presence of his hens and all the other assembled poultry. Indeed, the Egyptian Goose, with much: apparent timidity, really fears no other domesticated fowl what- ever. By its odd noises and strange grimaces it puzzles and frightens and worries them all, driving the heavy Canada Goose before it with as much of a matter-of- course air, as a farming lad would drive a lot of bullocks THE EGYPTIAN, OR CAPE GOOSE, 57 to marsh. If, by any chance, it be itself attacked, it discreetly slips off in a curve—discretion being the better part of valour,—and returns shortly to enjoy the joke, if the danger be, in its opinion, no more than trifling; — but if a dog, or a gun, or any other really serious enemy be apparent or audible, it steals away with long strides of its red stilt-like legs, and disappears and squats till none but friends are at hand. No tame bird would be a greater puzzle to fowl-stealers than the Egyptian Goose, if suffered to range at large, after it was once settled and acquainted with the premises which were to be its home. In extreme cases of danger their cunning leads them to feign death, like the landrail and some species of beetles. A man who undertook to pinion a brood. of four that had been brought up with a Hen, was much alarmed by finding that he had operated too severely on one of them, and “kilt” it by the operation. The patient had apparently died under the knife. He handled it and turned it about ; it dropped its neck, hung its wings, and suppressed all signs of life. Deeming the case past remedy, he tossed the poor thing into a pond close at hand ; when, presto ! down dived the Gosling—no Goose —after an exercise of self-command not surpassed by the most patient subjects of mesmeric practice, thinking, doubtless, that it had done the old gamekeeper, and saved itself from some still more severe treatment. Their powers of voice are also remarkable. The ordinary conversation of a pair with each other is a low internal whispering, very distinct, but ‘very faint, with much the effect of ventriloquism. They will also address these confidential sort of remarks to the persons to whom they are attached by feeding and other acts of kindness, cocking their yellow eye in the driest way possible. Their cry of alarm is a short reedy note, of considerable loudness, which somewhat resembles the snappish barking of a cur dog. They make use of this to scold other animals, and to express their disapprobation aoe eT a - 58 THE EGYPTIAN, OR CAPE GOOSE. of what is going on about them. Mine sometimes took it into their heads that poor Cherry, our only cow, had no business in the meadow or on the lawn while they were present ; and one of them, the male bird, kept up this incessant barking by the half-hour together, walking round and round the creature, or scolding into her very ear as her head was down grazing, but producing no more apparent annoyance to the patient and philosophical cow, than the cawing of the rooks from the neighbouring rookery. There is a hissing sound, seemingly expressive of mutual confidence, which is very like the escape of steam from the boiler of a steam-engine. They have a fashion of standing opposite to each other, face to face, on tip-toe, as high as their webbed feet permit, with their wings displayed and expanded, as if they were about to embrace and hug one another—a gesture, as far I am aware, peculiar to, and characteristic of, the species ; and during this demonstration of affection, which it undoubtedly is, one (the male?) keeps up the bark, and the other (the female ?) the hissing noise ; so that it Suggests the idea of a carrier’s cart-dog making love to a safety- valve. Among the ancient Egyptians the Chenalopex was typical of parental affection, Ot adrot S¢ Aiyirrios kal Xyvaomekas kal Eroras tuâ, ére of pèv Piórekvoi aùrôv, oi è Tpòs yetvapévous evoeBeis. —Ldilian, lib. x., c. 16. Bidorekvoy dé dpa Cdov Fv ka 6 xXnvaharné, kat ravròv roîs mépõiér Spa. Kai yap ovros mpd Tv veorrav éavrdv Korpicer, kai evdidoow ¿niða ós Onpdoovrt airdy T@ émiovtt’ of Sé -arrodiSpackovew of veorrol èv TH Tews’ Grav S€ mpd ddod yéverrat, Kal éxeivos éayrdy rots mTepois édadpicas arad- Adrrera.—Idem., lib, Xy 0. DOr “And these same Egyptians pay honour to Goose- Foxes and Hoopoos, since the former are fond of their young, and the latter are pious towards their parents.” THE EGYPTIAN, OR CAPE GOOSE. 59 “The Goose-F'ox is a creature very fond of its young, and acts in the same manner as Partridges. For this bird sets itself down before its young ones, and inspires the fowler with hope in order that he may advance : the young run off in the meanwhile, and when they are advanced on the way, the parent, rising on its wings, escapes.” The fury with which they defend their offspring from real or supposed danger is extreme. It is much more blind and violent, and less reasoning than that of the Hen. When they have young their jealousy is like King Herod’s: they indiscriminately attack and slay the innocent young of other poultry, as well as of their own species ; on which account it is better not to let them hatch the eggs they have produced, but to depute that office to a common Hen, by which plan also a chance is given of obtaining a second laying. Two pairs of Egyptian Geese had been permitted to hatch ; the young of each brood were thrifty, and were conducted by their parents to the same pond. The two families met. The Capulets versus the Montagues did not manifest a more bitter hatred. Hach couple insanely set to work to slaughter the rising hopes of the other. In a few minutes all was over; the eggs might as well have been addled or eaten. All the unhappy Goslings were floating dead on the water, and the rival Goose- Foxes had each had their revenge,—a good moral lesson for their betters. The time of incubation is a month; but the duration of this period varies slightly in probably all birds according to circumstances. The young are marked similarly to the old ones, but with duller colours. Brown back and tail, ash-coloured belly, a whitish band behind the ears, anda smaller one at the base of the bill. They may be reared in the same manner as those of the common Geese, If a Hen be selected for their nurse, she will not have the instinct to lead them to the tender grass by the water- side, and it may be as well to cram them for a time, once iy 60 — THE EGYPTIAN, OR CAPE GOOSE: a day, with “pegs,” or long pellets made of egg and flour dried before a slow fire. After the first month or two they become perfectly hardy, but must be pinioned, lest they be seized with a migratory fit. They are said to be very good eating ; but it may be supposed that a bird, for which ‘the London poultry-dealers ask 37, a pair, and which when roasted would not be much larger than a fine duck, does not often appear at ordinary tables. They are no doubt creatures of great longevity. Instances are not unfrequent of individuals remaining domesticated for fifteen or twenty years, and then being shot by mistake for wild birds, in consequence of having wandered from their . usual haunts during some heavy gale or peculiarity of weather. In hard winters, when the ground is covered with snow, they are apt to stray in search of soft marshy Spots and open water ; and at such seasons it is desirable that their keeper should have a more careful eye over them than usual. They do not attain their full plumage, nor breed, till their third year, and they continue to increase somewhat in size after that period— circum- stances which, in birds, are, I believe, uniformly united with great length of life, probably as much as eighty or a hundred years. The Egyptian Goose seems to be a connecting link between the waders and the gallinaceous birds in one direction, and the anatides in another. In its outline and attitude it bears considerable resemblance to that rare and curious bird, the Spur-winged Goose ; also a native of the same continent. It is very fond of standing up to the knees in water, like a heron. It eats worms, which, it has been remarked, the genuine and typical Geese never do; and I have no doubt that any small į eels or fry that came in its way would be swallowed. Tts ~~owe Chief diet, however, is grass. It takes its share of grain i when the other poultry are fed, and at that time amuses itself with teasing and chasing them, but more through fun than mischief—unless, indeed, it has a young family to protect, then it is a feathered tiger, It keeps itself THE EGYPTIAN, OR CAPE GOOSE. 61 from intimate ‘society with other fowls, not joining the Geese in their gregarious disposition to form one common flock, nor yet, like the Muscovy Duck, attaching itself to the Hens and Turkeys, but maintaining a veryindependent, fearless, and somewhat haughty exclusiveness. THE MUSK (commoniy Muscovy) DUCK. “ At Makaaka, we saw some Muscovy ducks feeding in the garden, and offered to purchase one; but they said they were rearing them for their landlord, and could not part with any; they furnished us, how- ever, with a fowl, with which, and some biscuit we had with us, we made a tolerable meal.”—Exuis’s Missionary Tour through Hawaii, p. 187. “Can a Duck swim?” is a pert question sometimes asked with little expectation of an answer in the negative. Here, however, is a Duck, which if it can swim, performs that action in such a clumsy way as hardly to deserve the name of swimming. Those who expect that its singular appearance “ would render it a curious, if not an elegant companion, among the more attractive Ducks of our aquatic preserves,” will be disappointed ; for it will never go near the water, if it can help it, but will prefer the farm-yard, the precincts of the kitchen, or even the piggery itself, to the clearest stream that ever flowed, In fact, it hates water, except some dirty puddle to drink and drabble in. When thrown into a pond, it gets out again as fast as it can. It does, indeed, sometimes seem to enjoy an occasional bath, but so does a sparrow or a canary bird. Its very short leg does not appear to be mechanically adapted for the purpose of swimming. It waddles on the surface of a pond as much as it does on dry land; it is evidently out of its place in either situation. Its proper mode of locomotion is through the air; its congenial haunts are among the branches of trees. The early Voyagers and the old Ornithologists are constantly referring to these habits. Observe, for instance, the description of “A wild Brazilian Duck of the bigness of a Goose-—Marggrave, It hath a black Bill, dusky Legs and Feet. It is all over black except the beginnings THE MUSK DUCK. 63 (setting on) of the Wings, which are white; but that black hath a gloss of shining green. It hatha crest or tuft on its head consisting of black feathers, and a corrugated | | red mass or bunch of flesh above the rise of the upper Mandible of the Bill. It hath also a red skin about the | Eyes. It is very fleshy, and good meat. They are com- monly shot sitting on high trees: For after they have washt themselves in cold water, they fly up high trees, for the benefit of fresh air and Sun.” — Willughby. A pair that were given to me by a friend came home very dirty, and, as at the end of three or four days they still had not washed themselves from their coating of filth, they were driven towards the water to bathe and be clean. In vain—they flew back over our heads to the poultry-yard ; and we were obliged to catch them, put them into the pond with our hands, and give them a ducking whether they would or not. Another curious fact is, that great part of the feathers of the Musk Duck do not resist the wet so well as those of other water-birds ; but the quill feathers particularly, and those of the tail, become soaked and matted in a very few minutes, like those of a Hen or Turkey; so that if compelled to make any long voyage, at a certain distance, they would sink and be suffocated. It would not be a humane experiment to try to make a Duck drown itself ; but such would probably be the result. We have here, then, the strange anomaly of a web-footed bird, whose feathers do not repel water ; which may be matched by another case, the Water-Hen, a bird whose feet have no web whatever, which yet swims safely though not quickly, and whose feathers are waterproof. Woodcocks, also, hhave been said to rest on the surface of the sea during their migrations: the common Heron has been stated by - Mr. Yarrell, on good authority, to swim occasionally ; -and Audubon positively affirms that he has known a flock of wild Turkeys cross an American river by swimming. The correctness, however, of this last account has been called in question, but, as it is impossible to prove a THE MUSK DUCK, negative, not disproved. Mr. Darwin also, whose name is a sufficient guarantee for the accuracy of the fact, states, I think, the same thing of the American Ostrich. The cause of this difference in the wet-repelling power of the feathers of different birds remains yet to be dis- covered, The old idea of the function of the oil-gland on the rump needs no further refutation. The quantity of oil secreted is quite insufficient to smear the whole plumage of any bird. The actions of the creature, which are presumed to be the smearing itself with this unguent, are nothing more than the process of combing, and preening, and arranging its feathers. The rumpless Fowl has a coat just as glossy as any other variety. The necks of some birds, as Owls, are too short to reach the gland that is to supply the natural Macassar. In other birds, of most aquatic and even oceanic habits, the rump itself is but little developed. What function is performed by these glands, remains yet to be demonstrated : probably it will be found to be simply excretory. The question of lubrication might very soon be set at rest by amputating the rump of a common Duck or Goose (were such cruelty at all justifiable—which it is not), and if, at the end of a month, the mutilated creature swam as buoyantly as ever, it would certainly not be by the assistance of the oil-gland. I venture, therefore, to suggest—and claim the credit of first suggesting—that this cause may probably be found in some minute structural peculiarity of the texture of the feather, which the microscope can alone reveal to us. In geology that instrument has afforded great and unexpected assistance. A thin slice of a fossil tree tells us whether it was a palm, or whether it grew like our oaks and beeches ; a minute fragment of a tooth has indicated the nature of an extinct and gigantic reptile. Youatt, through its aid, discovered the mechanical cause of the felting property of wool ; and it is not too much to hope that it may throw light on the reason why some feathers resist moisture, and others do not, THE MUSK DUCK. 65 Now, two conditions necessary for the repulsion of water by small objects, are rigidity and smoothness. The fur of a Water-Rat, that would be proof against all damp while the creature was living, and the hairs remained. rigid and elastic, would become sodden as soon as death ensued, and the coating became flaccid, “ Insects which, like the Gnat, walk much upon the surface of water, have at the end of their feet a brush of fine hair, the dry points of which appear to repel the fluid, and prevent the leg from being wetted. If these brushes be moistened with spirit of wine, this apparent repulsion no longer takes place, and the insect immediately sinks, and is - drowned.”—Dr. Roget’s Bridgewater Treatise, vol. i., p. 334. A hair that would sink if once wetted, will, if dropped gently on the surface, float by means of the air contained in the vacant space caused by its repulsion. The same will happen with a dry and polished needle of considerable size, although iron is so much heavier than water. If, then, it shall be found that the minute ` Parts of waterproof feathers possess these qualities of smoothness and rigidity, in combination with others yet to be discovered, which qualities are not to be found in feathers that are easily wetted, a step will be gained which must lead to interesting results. We cannot hope to find out the ultimate cause of attraction and repulsion, any more than we can that of gravitation, but we may endeavour to learn the conditions of both. Dr. Roget has discovered, by the microscope, a cha- racteristic which distinguishes feathers intended for- flight, from those whose use is for mere clothing or ornament. “The feathers of the Ostrich,” he says, “are unprovided with that elaborate apparatus of crotchets and fibres, which are universally met with in birds that fly.” In those of the Peacock’s tail this peculiar mechanism is deficient. We shall probably, at a future time, be equally able to point out the repulsive structure of feathers destined to be in constant contact with water, without being wetted by it. F THE MUSK DUCK. One bird, the young of the common Duck, is water- proof everywhere, except at the tail, the down of which soon becomes soaked, while the rest of its body is dry. The tail of the Duckling is, like the heel of Achilles, its weak point, on which account many farmers’ wives clip it close before they suffer a brood to approach the pond, But compare the. stiff, elastic, brush-like down of a common Duckling or Gosling, with the soft, cottony, compressible covering of a newly-hatched Chicken or Turkey, and it will unhesitatingly be granted that there is room for further inquiry. And it is desirable that the investigation should be pursued by some man of experience and acquirement, who is in possession of good instruments, and has the skill to use them. Jam not aware of any fossil feathers being catalogued in our museums, but portions of them at least are as likely to be found in situ, if searched after, as the delicate tissue of plants. Thus it may be -possible to determine, independently of any reference to webbed feet, or broad bill, which of the pre-adamite birds delighted in the water, and which were confined to the dry land ; some light may even be thrown on the habits of the mysterious Dodo. The female of the Musk Duck has considerable powers of flight, and is easy and self-possessed in the use of its | | wings. It is fond of perching on the tops of barns, | | walls, &c. Its feet appear by their form to be more | | adapted to such purposes than those of most other , _ Ducks. If allowed to spend the night in the hen-house, the female will generally go to roost by the side of the Hens, but the Drake is too heavy to mount thither with | ease. Its claws are sharp and long; and it approaches ** the tribe of Rasores or Scratchers in an un-scientific sense, being almost as dangerous to handle incautiously as an ill-tempered cat; and will occasionally adopt a still more offensive and scarcely describable means of annoyance. : The voice of the male is a hoarse asthmatical sigh. Its habits are gross, obscene, dirty, indolent, selfish. THE MUSK DUCK. 67 It manifests little affection to its female partner, and none towards its offspring. The possession of three or four mates suits it, and them, better than to be confined to the company of a single one. It bullies other fowls, sometimes by pulling their feathers, but more frequently by following them close, and repeatedly thrusting its face in their way, with an offensive and satyr-like expression of countenance. I have not observed it to sift the water, as it were, with its bill, to extract minute insects and worms, as is the custom of other Ducks. Tt isa great devourer of slugs. A nest of half-fledged birds of any moderate size would soon be swallowed. The female appears to be mute, or nearly so, having, in general, only a faint cry while leading her young ; but, as in other cases of assumed dumbness, a sudden fright will sometimes extort the real truth. “ I discovered the voice of the female Musk Duck in the following manner, having kept them for some years without having done so. In 1842, I was at Swanage, in Dorsetshire, where, for the first time, I saw some pure white Muscovy Ducks. I bought a pair, and in taking them home I found that the female, on being moved from one basket to another, uttered a cry almost exactly resembling the “quack” of the common Duck. I feared I had bought a hybrid instead of a genuine bird, though the external appearance assured me otherwise. On my arrival at home I had all my female Ducks of the Muscovy kind (of which I then had four or five) caught suddenly, and held by one leg, when I found that they all made the same noise.”—A. W. At the time of receiving the above communication, I had only one Musk Duck, of the dark variety, and upon her the experiment was tried. She was extremely tame, and, frighten her as we would, we could only get a faint cry ; it was impossible to squeeze out of her a loud honest “quack!” Like the obstinate Prima Donna whom the Sicilian viceroy sent to prison, she seemed to say, “ You may make me cry, but you shall not make me sing.” A F 2 THE MUSK DUCK. white Musk Duck, that subsequently arrived as a stranger, manifested its alarm at being handled by loud quackings, as above described. Willughby gives the white variety as a distinct species. The eye is smaller, and if the peculiarity of voice be found a permanent characteristic, it would tend to confirm the position ; otherwise the differences are trifling. In both sorts the female is very much smaller than her spouse, and the couple suggest the idea of those unequal matches occasionally seen in the human species, where a little dumpy woman trips with evident satisfaction by the side of a husband who is twice her length, and four times her size. The tropical regions of South America are the native country of the Musk Duck, which may account for its dislike to a cold bath in our English winter. Its frizzled crest is analogous to that of some Curassows, natives of the same continent and climate. It is fond of warmth, passing the night, not in the open air, but in the fowl- house with the Cocks and Hens; and selecting by day the most sunny corner to bask and doze in. I believe that, if permitted, they would soon learn to come and lie before the kitchen fire in cold weather ; for they become absurdly tame with those persons who treat them kindly, and fly off a few yards, like pigeons, if any disagreeable acquaintance appear. I have seen one (a male) that would wait to be stroked, like a cat, by its owner, and expressed pleasure when he took it up to caress it in his arms ; but it did not permit such liberties to strangers. The hatred of water which the Musk Duck entertains, is taken advantage of by two classes of persons—those who have too little, and those who have too much water to rear the common Duck. The river or the pond is the nuptial bed of the latter, as of most web-footed birds. Ophelia-like, a fall “into the weeping brook” is mere matter of indifference to her; she bears it “ As one incapable of her own distress, Or like a creature native and indued Unto that element.” THE MUSK DUCK, 69 Not so with the Musk Duck: a damp bed does not suit it. Where there is any very great extent of lake and stream, the common Duck can scarcely (except by cooping) be prevented from leading her brood out of all bounds, till they are destroyed by pike, carrion-crows, marsh-men, barge-men, rats, and other water-thieves, and the Duck returns home at last with only half, or perhaps none of | her progeny, in her suite. The Musk Duck resists, or feels not, the temptation to ramble. On this account it is kept in some parts of Norfolk, where extensive broads and interminable drains form a watery labyrinth, from which no common Duck would easily be recovered, The same stay-at-home habit and indifference to water point out the Musk Duck as a suitable inhabitant of the stable yards and open spaces of a town, or of a suburban villa. Another advantage is, that it is not apt to lay astray, or steal a nest in exposed or unsafe places, but deposits its eggs in the fowl-house, and will afterwards ‘contentedly sit there. Occasionally it will establish itself on the top of | a stack, or in a hay-loft, or granary, and make its nursery | there, The eggs are scarcely distinguishable from those of the common Duck; they are well flavoured. The time of incubation is five weeks: but in all birds that I have observed the duration of that period varies so much according to circumstances, that a mean of many observa- tions must be taken to arrive at a correct standard. The i time required by the hybrid eggs between this and the } common Duck, is intermediate between the respective periods. “I have never known five weeks exceeded beyond one day ; and the difference between the incubation of the natural mother and the common Hen I have found to be rather in favour of the former, who, if she is not quite so constant a sitter, makes more than amends b the lining of down which she gives to her nest, and by covering her eggs whenever she leaves them, which, I need not say, the Hen never does.” —A. W. If it is wished that the Duck herself should incubate, it THE MUSK DUCK. will be better not to remove the eggs, as laid, from the nest. The newly-hatched young also resemble those of the common Duck; they are covered with down, the shades of which indicate the colour of the future feathers; and they do not for some time show any appearance of the tuberculated face. They are delicate, and require some care while young, but are quite hardy when full grown. Their food should be anything that is nutritious, and plenty and a variety of it. How the little Musk Ducks that happen to be hatched in elevated situations manage to descend, is a curious point in natural history. My own idea is, that the force of gravitation is quite sufficient to effect the transfer, and that seldom any other agent is employed. They would suffer little more from a tumble off a haystack upon the litter around it, or from the roof of a country house to the elastic lawn beneath, than a child’s powder-puff, if tossed from the highest steeple in England. When once on the ground, the Duck would collect her scattered brood, in the same way as a Pheasant, a Partridge, or a self-set Hen. Ihave been told, on good authority, that in such cases the Duck carries them down severally in her beak, a mode of conveyance which may be occasionally practised, if we place any faith in similar instances. Audubon, speaking of the American Wood Duck, remarks, “they always reminded me of the Mus- covy Duck, of which they look as if a highly-finished and flattering miniature ;” and tells us that “they appear at all times to prefer (for their nest) the hollow broken portion of some large branch, the hole of our largest woodpecker (Picus principalis), or the deserted retreat of the fox-squurel.” ... “If the nest is placed immediately over the water, the young, the moment they are hatched, scramble to the mouth of the hole, launch into the air with their little wings and feet spread out, and drop into their favourite element ; but whenever their birth-place is at some distance from it, the mother carries them to it one by one in her bill, holding them so as not to injure THE MUSK DUCK. TL their yet tender frame. On several occasions, however, when the hole was thirty, forty, or more yards from a bayou or other piece of water, I observed that the mother suffered the young to fall on the grass and dried leaves beneath the tree, and afterwards led them directly to the nearest edge of the next pool or creek. At this early age, the young answer to their parent’s call with a mellow pee, pee, pee, often and rapidly repeated.” —A merican Ornithological Biography, vol. 3, pp. 54, 55. The Musk Duck is excellent eating if killed just before it is fully fledged ; but it islonger in becoming fit for the table than the common Duck. Their flesh is at first high-flavoured and tender, but an old bird would be rank, and the toughest of tough meats. It is strange that a dish should now be so much out of fashion as scarcely ever to be seen or tasted, which, under the name of Guinea Duck, graced every feast a hundred and fifty years ago, and added dignity to every table at which it was produced. The domesticated bird is most frequently parti- coloured, with irregular patches of black, white, and brownish grey, the black prevailing on the upper, and the white on the under surface of the body. It has been ' Seen that occasionally they are white ; but their filthy habits render these not desirable. Brown and white is a more rare colouring. Sometimes they are met with entirely black, which is by far the most ornamental variety; it is, moreover, as we are informed, the colour of the wild bird; and in a collection of ornamental poultry it is desirable to select those individuals which most closely represent the native appearance of their species. The black is beautifully metallic, somewhat iridescent and shaded with golden green. The feathers on the back are broad, and exhibit a handsome imbricated appearance. The eye is large, full, and clear; and the red tubercles and skin at the base of the bill are strikingly contrasted with whatever coloured plumage the bird may be clothed with. THE GUINEA-FOWL. THIS is no great favourite with many keepers of poultry, and is one of those unfortunate beings which, from having been occasionally guilty of a few trifling faults, has gained a much worse reputation than it really deserves, as if it were the most ill-behaved bird in creation. Whereas, it is useful, ornamental, and interesting during its life ; and when dead a desirable addition to our dinners, at a time when all other poultry is scarce. + The best way to begin keeping Guinea-fowls is to pro- cure a sitting of eggs from some friend or neighbour on ` whom you can depend for their freshness, and also, if possible, from a place where only a single pair is kept. The reason of this will be explained hereafter. A Bantam Hen is the best mother ; she is lighter, and less likely to injure them by treading on them than a full-sized fowl. She will cover nine eggs, and incubation will last a month. The young are excessively pretty. When first hatched, they are so strong and active as to appear not to require the attention really necessary to rear them. Almost as soon as they are dry from the moisture of the egg, they will peck each other’s toes, as if supposing them to be worms, will scramble with each other for a crumb of bread, and will domineer over any little bantam or chicken that may perhaps have been brought off in the same clutch with themselves. No one, who did not know, would guess, from their appearance, of what species of bird they were the offspring. The young of the Guinea-Fowl are striped like those of the Emu, as shown in the late Mr. Bennet’s pleasing description of the Zoological Gardens, as they were in his days. Their orange-red bills and legs, and the dark, zebra- like stripes with which they are regularly marked from head to tail, bear no traces of the speckled plumage of their parents. THE GUINEA-FOWL. 73 Ants’ eggs (so called), hard-boiled egg chopped fine, small worms, maggots, bread crumbs, chopped meat or suet, whatever in short is most nutritious, is their most appropriate food. This need not be offered to them in large quantities, as it would only be devoured by the mother Bantam as soon as she saw that her little ones had for the time satisfied their appetites, or would be stolen by. sparrows, &c. ; but it should be frequently adminis- tered to them in small supplies, Feeding them three, four, or five times a day, is not nearly often enough; every half-hour during daylight they should be tempted to fill their little craws, which are goon emptied again by an extraordinary power and quickness of digestion. The newly-hatched Guinea-fowl is a tiny creature, a mere infinitesimal of the full-grown bird ; its growth is conse- quently very rapid, and requires incessant supplies. A check once received can never be recovered. In such cases they do not mope and pine for a day or two, like young Turkeys under similar circumstances, and then die; but in half an hour after being in apparent health, they fall on their backs, give a convulsive kick or two, and fall victims, in point of fact, to starvation. The demands of nature for the growth of bone, muscle, and particularly of feather, are so great that no subsequent abundant supply of food can make up for a fast of a couple of hours. The feathers still 80 on, grow, grow, grow, in geometrical progression, and drain the sources of vitality still faster than they can be supplied, till the bird faints and expires from inanition, I have even fancied that I have seen a growth of quill and feather after death in young poultry which we had failed in rearing. The pos- sibility of such a circumstance is supported by the well- known fact of the growth of hair and nails in many deceased persons. This constant supply of suitable food is, I believe, the great secret in rearing the more delicate birds, Turkeys, Guinea-fowls, Pheasants, &., never to suffer the growth of the chick (which goes on whether it has food in its H i i I f ' E i i n fe et ae ar nN a ` e rem e ees — —— 74 THE GUINEA-FOWL. stomach or not), to produce exhaustion of the vital powers, for want of the necessary aliment. Young Turkeys, as soon as they once feel languid from this cause, refuse their food when it is at last offered to them (just like a man whose appetite is gone, in consequence of having waited too long for his dinner), and never would eat more, were food not forced down their throats, by which operation they may frequently be recovered ; but the little Guinea- , fowls give no notice of this faintness till they are past all cure ; and a struggle of a few minutes shows that they have indeed outgrown their strength, or, rather, that the material for producing strength has not been supplied to them in a degree commensurate with their growth. A dry sunny corner in the garden will be the best place to coop them with their Bantam Hen. As they increase in strength they will do no harm, but a great deal of good, by devouring worms, grubs, caterpillars, maggots, and all sorts of insects. By the time their bodies are little bigger than those of sparrows, they will be able to fly with some degree of strength ; and it is very pleasing to see them essay the use of their wings at the call of their foster- mother, or the approach of their feeder. It is one out of millions of instances of the provident wisdom of the Almighty Creator, that the wing and tail feathers of young gallinaceous birds, with which they require to be furnished at the earliest possible time, as a means of escape from their numerous enemies, exhibit the most rapid growth of any part of their frame. Other additions to their complete stature are successively and less imme- diately developed. The wings of a chicken are soon fledged enough to be of great assistance to it ; the spurs, comb, and ornamental plumage do not appear till quite a subsequent period, When the young Guinea-fowl are about the size of thrushes, or perhaps a little larger (unless the summer be very fine), their mother Bantam (which we suppose to be a tame, quiet, matronly creature) may be suffered to range THE GUINEA-FOWL. 75 loose in the orchard and shrubbery, and no longer per- mitted to enter the garden, lest her family should acquire a habit of visiting it at a time when their presence would be less welcome than formerly. They must still, how- ever, receive a bountiful and frequent supply of food ; they are not to be considered safe till the horn on their heads is fairly grown. Oatmeal (i. e. groats), as a great treat, cooked potatoes, boiled rice, anything in short that is eatable, may be thrown down to them. . They will pick the bones left after dinner with great satisfaction, and no doubt benefit to themselves. The tamer they can be made, the less troublesome will those birds be which you retain for stock ; the more kindly they are treated, the more they are petted and pampered, the fatter and better conditioned will those others become which you design for your own table, or as presents to your friends, and the better price will you get if you send them to market. At a certain period they will have got beyond the Management of their good mother-in-law, and will cast off her authority. They will form what has appropriately been called a “ pack ;” prowling about in a body after insects and mast, or grazing together (for they eat a great deal of grass*) still in a pack ; fiercely driving away any intruder on their society, and all giving tongue in one chorus at the approach of any danger. Birds thus reared on the. spot where they are meant to be kept, are sure to thrive better and give less trouble than those procured from a distance 3 which sometimes will not remain in their new home, but wander about in search of their old haunts till they either find them, or are themselves lost, destroyed, or stolen. All the poultry- books that I have seen are very meagre, and sometimes erroneous in their directions for the management of the ttt nce a eT a me or < vanam NR Pe oreen w * Mr. Swainson points out the analogy which exists between the horned birds, the Cassowary, Curassow, and Guinea-fowl among the feathered tribes, and the ruminants among quadrupeds ; the quantity of grass eaten by the last-mentioned birds confirms his view of the subject. 76 THE GUINEA-FOWL. less common fowls. For instance, not one that I am aware tells you that the Guinea-fowl is a monogamous bird, pairs with his mate, like a ‘Partridge or a Pigeon, and remains faithful to her (perhaps with one or two trifling peccadilloes) so long as they continue to live together. It is generally supposed that the male Guinea- fowl, like the common Cock, is pleased with a plurality of wives; and the supposition is acted on with bad practical effect. In the case where a Guinea cock and two hens are kept—a usual number—it will be found on close observation that though the three keep together so as to form one “ pack,” according to their original instinct, yet that the cock and one hen will be unkind and stingy to the other unfortunate female, keep her at a certain distance, merely suffering her society, and making her feel that she is with them only on sufferance. The neglected hen will lay eggs, in appearance, like those of the other, but not so many, probably in the same nest. If they are to be eaten, all well and good ; but if a brood is wanted, and the eggs of the despised one chance to be taken for the purpose of hatching (and there is no possibility of distinguishing them without breaking them,—unless, it may be, the oxyhydrogen microscope could be made to throw light through them, as well as upon them), the result is disappointment and addle eggs. If the produce of the favourite (or rather let us say of the lawful) wife are selected, at the end of the month you have so many strong chicks ; if a mixture of egos come to hand, the hatch is in proportion. I have known this occur repeat- edly. Therefore let all those who wish to succeed with Guinea-fowls match their birds as strictly as the couples in a country dance. It. is not every one who knows a cock from a hen of this species. An unerring rule is, that the hen alone uses the call-note “ come-back, come back,” accenting the second syllable strongly, from which they are usually called “ come-backs,” in Norfolk; the cock has only the harsh shrill cry of alarm, which, however, is also common THE GUINEA-FOWL: TT to the female. A widowed hen, whose husband had been unceasingly and irreclaimably impertinent to a noble Game Cock, and who lately lost her spouse in the duel provoked by his own repeated insolence, is, while I write, piping her melancholy cry, “come-back, come-back,” under my study window. “Te, dulcis conjux, te solo in litore secum, Te, veniente die, te decedente canebat.” Not translated thus :— “ Restore, restore Eurydice to life : O take the husband, or return the wife!” Back, however, he comes not, nor will come, in spite of her plaintive invitation, which will, doubtless, continue to touch our hearts, and grate our ears, till she is consoled for her bereavement by a second union. Their amours are conducted with strict decorum and privacy. The cock, however, is properly polite and attentive to his own hen in public, walking very close by her side, so as to touch her wings with his own, offering her tit-bits now and then, a worm or a grain of corn ; he has also a habit of running very quick for a few steps, and then walking affectedly on tip toes, with a mincing air, like the dandy in a Christmas pantomime, setting up his back and increasing his apparent height. These latter symptoms are less evident in youth, when it is necessary to make the selection, and the call-note will be found the safest guide. Of all known birds this, perhaps, is the most prolific of eggs. Week after week, and month after month, sees no, or very rare, intermission of the daily deposit. Even the process of moulting is sometimes insufficient to draw off the nutriment the creature takes, to make feathers instead of eggs, and the poor thing will sometimes go about half naked in the chilly autumnal months, like a Fowl that had escaped from the cook to avoid a prepa- ration for the spit; unable to refrain from its diurnal 78 THE GUINEA-FOWL. visit to the nest, and consequently unable to furnish itself with a new great coat. As the body of a good cow isa distillery for converting all sorts of herbage into milk, and nothing else, or as little else as possible, so the body of the Guinea-hen is a most admirable machine for produc- ing eggs out of insects, vegetables, grain, garbage, or whatever an omnivorous creature can lay hold of. From this great aptitude for laying, which is a natural property, and not an artificially encouraged habit, and also from the very little disposition they show to sit, I am inclined to suspect that in their native country, the dry burning wastes of Central Africa, they do not sit at all on their eggs, but leave them to be hatched by the sun, like Ostriches, to which they bear a close affinity. That they do in this country occasionally sit and hatch is no valid objection to this idea, but only a proof of a con- stitution modified by a change of climate, similar to the cessation of torpidity, and to the brown, instead of white, winter dress in animals brought from the arctic regions to temperate climates. Even in Great Britain there are not enough Guinea-fowls hatched by their actual parents to keep the breed from becoming extinct in a few years. It is certain that the sands of tropical Africa are more than hot enough to hatch them, and that the young birds are unusually vivacious and independent, if they have but a supply of proper food, which they would find in the myriads of insects engendered there. They are also found wild on the Island of Ascension, but it is doubtful whether any accurate account of their habits or mode of increase there is yet extant. Housewives complain that they are apt to lay astray in the hedge-rows and copses ; but what does it matter, if the people about you are but honest (and the way to make and keep them so is to treat them kindly and liberally), what does it matter whether you get one egg a day, or seven at the end of a week? And nest-hunting is always good fun for the children, and sometimes for the master and mistress. - eee THE GUINEA-FOWL. 79 Guinea-fowl have another Ostrich-like habit, When a nest is robbed of its eggs, it is generally deserted by the birds, who never again make use of it from that time. Occasionally, however, especially if it be among rough herbage and low shrubs, at the end of three or four days, it will be found partially refilled, and containing more eggs than the bird could have laid in the interval. Iwas | at first puzzled to account for this, till I discovered that i the Guinea-fowl replaced her plundered property by | rolling into the nest outlying eggs that had been laid previously. When a Guinea-hen is known to be sitting, it is desirable to have her watched, so that the moment the young leave the shell she may be secured and placed with her brood under a coop, where she will rear them as well as a Hen. The Guinea-fowl hatches a large number, when she does hatch at all. I have heard of as many as thirty-two chicks, which were dragged about by the mother, and lost in a field of wheat. Twenty-two have been reared when she has been caught and confined. The cock attends his own hen to the nest, waits for her close at hand till she has made her daily contribution to the treasure already there, and occasionally will betray the situation of the secret hoard by his extreme solicitude in announcing the presence of intruders. “ Ova... punctis distincta, ut Meleagridi.”—Pliny, lib. x. cuxxtv. “Eggs... distinct with points, as in the Guinea-fowl.” Eggs of the Guinea-fowl are occasionally produced. covered with wrinkles, as if the shell had shrunk in the process of hardening. These sometimes are confined to one (the smaller) end, and sometimes extend over the whole surface. They are evidently the result of weakness or over-exertion of the egg organs, appearing in young and healthy birds only at the close of their long laying season ; in old and weak ones, showing themselves in the first-laid eggs, and increasing in depth and extent as the season advances. The same thing is less frequently seen 80 THE GUINEA-FOWL. among Turkeys that are about to cease laying. Such eggs are quite good for the table, but should not be taken for the purpose of hatching. They appear to contain a less proportion of yolk than the perfect egg. Guinea-fowl are in season from the middle of Decem- ber till April, but are usually reserved till the latter part of that term, in order to occupy the gap caused by the deficiency of game. They usually weigh from three to four pounds each, and fetch from 5s. 6d. to 7s. the couple in Norfolk. It is of no use attempting to shut them up to fatten, unless they have previously been made particularly tame, as they would sulk, pine, and die before they became reconciled to confinement, in spite of its extra diet. But if they have become familiar, the whole pack may be confined in company together in a roomy outhouse, and be supplied with all the oats they can eat, with considerable advantage. The sure plan, therefore, is to keep them in high condition during the winter, by liberal hand-feeding. The practice is not to kill them with the knife, like other poultry, but to dislocate their necks, leaving the blood in them to remedy the dryness of their flesh, which is the great fault an epicure would find with them. They should also remain in the larder as long as possible before being cooked. It was formerly the fashion for farmers’ wives and daughters to make tippets and muffs of the smaller feathers, which much resembled chinchilli fur in appearance, and were both elegant and useful. The normal plumage of the Guinea-fowl is singularly beautiful, being spangled over with an infinity of white spots on a black ground, shaded with grey and brown. The spots vary from the size of a pea to extreme minute- ness. Rarely the black and white change places, causing the bird to appear as if covered with a network of lace. “ Marggravius saw others brought out of Sierra Lyona like to the above described (Guiny Hen), whose Neck was bound or lapped about with, as it were, a membranous cloth of a blue ash-colour. A round many-double tuft, a — THE GUINEA-FOWL. 81 or crest, consisting of elegant black feathers, covers the Head. The White points or spots round the whole body are variegated, as it were, with a shade.”— Willughby, p. 163. A white variety is not uncommon, and is asserted bya Yorkshire correspondent of the “ Gardeners’ Chronicle” to be equally hardy and profitable with the usual. kind; but the peculiar beauty of the original plumage is, surely, ill exchanged for a dress of not the purest white. It is doubtful for how long either this or the former one would remain permanent; probably but for few generations. Pied birds blotched with patches of white are frequent, but are not comparable in point. of beauty with those of the original wild colour. The figure in Sir W. Jardine’s “ Naturalist’s Library” is evidently taken from one of the pied varieties. The ancients seem to have been acquainted with two or three Species, the description of which hardly answers to those we know at the present day. “ Africana est, quam plerique Numidicam dicunt, Meleagridi similis, nisi quod rutilam galeam, et cristam capite gerit, quæ utraque sunt in Meleagridi cerulea.’’— Columella, lib. viii. c. 2. “ The Africana, which most people call a N umidica, is like a Meleagris, except that it bears on its head a red helmet and comb, both which are blue in the Meleagris.” The head and face of our birds are remarkable. The scarlet wattles, naked skin, distinct mark of the eye-brow, bright glancing eyes, and comical quick expression, make, at a front view, a perfect miniature of a clown dressed and painted for the circus or the pantomime. I am informed that gun-dogs set or point at Guinea- Fowls that happen to stray in the fields, as if they were Partridges, ea re THE CHINA GOOSE (Cyrconérpzs). THERE is a venerable joke about a Spanish Don who knocked at a cottage door to ask a night’s lodging. “ Who's there? What do you want?” said the inmates. “ Don Juan José Pedro Anthonio Alonzo Carlos Geronimo, &c., &c., &c., wants to sleep here to-night.” “ Get along with you,” was the reply; “how should we find room here for so many fellows?” The China Goose is in the same position as the Spanish Don. It has names enough to fill a menagerie. China Goose, Knob Goose, Hong Kong Goose, Asiatic Goose, Swan Goose, Chinese Swan (Cygnus sinensis, CUVIER), Guinea Goose, Spanish Goose, Polish Goose, Anas and Anser cycnéides, Muscovy Goose, and probably more besides. Confusion, therefore, and perplexity, are the certain lot of whosoever attempts to trace this bird in our books of natural history. Its place of birth has excluded it from all monographs or limited ornithologies. In very few systematic works is it mentioned at all, which is remark- able of a bird so striking in its appearance, which there is every reason to believe must have been domesticated for a long period. The uncertainty that has existed as to its correct name and really native country may be one cause of this. Like the Jews, or the Gipsies, it has not been allowed to claim a place among the natives of any one region ; and like many others furnished with a variety of aliases, it ends by being altogether excluded from society. The old writers call it the Guinea Goose, for the ex- cellent reason, as Willughby hints, that in his time it was the fashion to apply the epithet “ Guinea” to every- thing of foreign and uncertain origin. Thus, what we at this day erroneously call the Muscovy Duck was THE CHINA GOOSE. 83 then called the Guinea Duck. Not long back it was common with us to refer every strange or new object to a French source. Spanish Goose is another title, probably as appropriate as Guinea Goose. Bewick has given an admirable woodcut of this bird, but he has ‘evidently selected the gander, which is taller and more erect than the female, though to both may be applied Willughby’s description, “a stately bird, walking with its head and neck decently erected.” Bewick calls it the Swan Goose. The tubercle af the base of the bill, the unusual length of neck, and its gracefttl-cattiagé in the water, give it some claim to relationship with the aristocracy of lake and river. Cuvier (Griffiths’ edition), goes further, calls it at once Cygnus sinensis, Chinese Swan, and says that this and the Canada Goose cannot be separated from the true Swans. A Goose, however, it decidedly is, as is clear from its terrestrial habits, its powerful bill, its thorny tongue, and its diet of grass. And therefore we have determined to call it the China Goose, concluding that Cuvier is right about its home, and other authors about its goosehood. There is something in the aspect of this creature, the dark-brown stripe down its neck, its small bright eye, its harsh voice, its ceremonious strut, and its affectation of seldom being in a hurry, which seem to say that it came from China. It would perfectly harmonise in a picture of Chinese still life; or in a Chinese garden, with. artifi- cially arranged rocks, dwarf trees, crooked trellises, and zigzag pathways ; or, in a more extended landscape, it would group well on a broad river, beside a boat filled with shaven fishermen, with their trained cormorants and pig-tailed children. If it does come from China, it has no doubt been domesticated for many hundred years, perhaps as long as the Peacock or common Fowl. An evident proof of this is the large number of eggs they may be made to lay by an increased supply of nourishing food. This is very different from the disposition to “lay ever- lastingly,” as seen in the Guinea-fowl, and some varieties G2 84 _ THE CHINA GOOSE. of the domestic Hen—the black Spanish, for instance : because the China Goose does in the end feel a strong desire to incubate as soon as her protracted laying is done, whereas entire exemption from the hatching fever is the great merit of the “everlasting layers.” If liberally | furnished with oats, boiled rice, &c., the China Goose will in the spring lay from twenty to thirty eggs before she begins to sit, and again in the autumn, after her | moult, from ten to fifteen more. I have never observed ,any disposition to sit after the autumnal laying. It is not, as in the Guinea-fowl, a spontaneous flow of eggs, for which the ordinary diet of the creature is sufficient, but is as. much dependent on feeding as the fatness to which a bullock is brought. A Goose that I supplied with as much oats as she could eat, besides grass, potatoes, and cabbages, laid eggs larger than ordinary ; one of them (with a double yolk) weighed seven and a half ounces, nearly half a pound. I need hardly say that double-yolked eggs are very rare, except among birds that have been long domesticated. Another proof is their deficient power of flight com- pared with the rest of their congeners, owing to the larger proportionate size of their bodies.* The common domestic Goose flies much more strongly than its brother from China. Indeed of all Geese this is the worst flyer. There is no occasion to pinion them. While the Canada Goose thinks little of a journey from the North Pole or thereabouts to Great Britain, while the Egyptian Goose pays us occasional visits from Africa, while the merry * Professor Low, speaking of the effect of domestication on birds, says :—‘ They lose the power of flight by the increased size of their abdomen, and the diminished power of their pectoral muscles; and other parts of their body are altered to suit this conformation. AH their habits change ; they lose the caution and sense of danger which, in their native state, they possessed. The male no longer retires with a single female to breed, but becomes polygamous, and his progeny lose the power and the will to regain the freedom of their race.” —The Domesticated Animals of the British Islands, Introduc- tion, p. liv. THE CHINA GOOSE. 85 little Laughing Goose, if tamed and allowed the use of its wings, is almost as much at ease in the air as a Pigeon, the China Goose can hardly manage to flutter across a lawn, to get out of the way of a frisky spaniel. “ Said the Tame Goose to the Wild one, ‘on such a day I shall fly away.’ Said the Wild Goose to the Tame one, ‘I shall fly away on such a day, if it be the will of Allah.’ At the appointed time the Wild Goose performed her yearly migration: the Tame Goose cannot fly to this day.” If China, instead of Egypt, had produced the above fable, we should believe that the Anas cycnöides was the vainful boastful bird. The large number of eggs laid by these birds has led some persons to imagine that, like Guinea-fowls, they were inexhaustible, so that when at last the Goose did make’ her nest in earnest (which may be known by her mixing her own down with the straw), no eggs had been “ \ reserved for the poor thing to sit upon. The best plan is to date the eggs with a pencil, as they are laid, and to consume only those which are more than three weeks old. They are usually very late with their broods, but will rear them well enough if they are allowed to take their own time, and do it after their own manner. My China Goose has now (June 1848) laid thirty eggs, without intimating any intention of sitting; but she has annually brought up a family for the last five years, and I doubt not she will again this season. When the fit comes, she will take possession of her milk-pan, which stands in a large boarded coop, like a dog-kennel. Once duly enthroned there, she will maintain her seat with proper perseverance and tenacity. A neighbour discarded his China Goose. because she was always found standing over her eggs, instead of sitting upon them. But those were only the preliminaries, the overture to the performance. Hu no man’s cattle; and you may as well try to hurry the Emperor, as the Goose, of Ghina. Their time of incuba- tion is five weeks. I have always found them steady sitters when t ey once begin in earnest, and exemplary 86 ` THE CHINA GOOSE. parents. The Goose, on leaving her nest to feed, covers her eggs carefully. Any difficulty in rearing them results from want of proper management. If, for instance, when the bird does at length sit, she is insufficiently supplied with eggs, or with those which have been kept too long ; or if she be permitted to be disturbed by dogs, &c. ; if she be suffered to steal a nest, and sit on more than she can cover—things will go wrong. The great number of eggs laid may perhaps cause an uncertainty that each one is properly fecundated. A China Goose, after sitting a fortnight, was driven from her nest by a sow that had been permitted to get loose : the eggs were eaten, shells and all, and the poor bird expressed her agony of mind, both by her cries and actions. After she became a little calm, her nest was remade and supplied with fresh eggs. She continued to sit for three weeks longer, as well as could be. At the end of the usual period of five weeks, she gave up her task as useless, believing the eggs to be addled, which they were not; and we unfortunately knew no language by which we could persuade her that, if she would only persevere for another fort- night, the reproach of barrenness would be taken away from her. These are annoying cases to practical ornithotrophists. But even here the difficulty need not have been insur- mountable ; and where there’s a will there’s a way. A worthy old couple had the misfortune to have their sitting Goose killed in one of her daily promenades, a few days before. the goslings were ready to leave the shell. What _ was to be done? The eggs were cooling fast; no time was to be lost. Difficult emergencies excite brilliant efforts of genius. In an instant the old man was un- dressed and in bed. To him the orphan eggs were transferred. When he grew tired of his lying in, the old lady took her turn till the goslings were safely hatched. The prevailing colour of the plumage of the China Goose is a brown, which has aptly been compared to the THE CHINA GOOSE. 87 colour of wheat. The different shades are very har- moniously blended, and are well relieved by the black tuberculated bill, and the pure white of the abdomen. Their movements on the water are graceful and swan- like. It is delightful to see them on a fine day in spring lashing the water, diving, rolling over through mere fun, and playing all sorts of antics. Slight variations occur in the colour of the feet and legs, some having them of a dull orange, others black: a delicate fringe of minute white feathers is occasionally seen at the base of the bill. These peculiarities are hereditarily transmitted, but do not amount to more than mere varieties. But the White China Goose, if it be not specifically distinct, is a variety so decidedly marked as to demand a separate notice. The male is almost as much disproportionately larger than the female as the Musk-Drake is in comparison with his mate. He is much inclined to libertine wanderings, without, however, neglecting to pay proper attention at home. If there is any other gander on the same pre- mises, they are sure to disagree: one of the two had better be got rid of. . Both male and female are, perhaps; the most noisy of all Geese: at night the least footfall or motion, in their neighbourhood is sufficient to call forth eir clanging and resonant trumpetings. This, to a lone oountsy Soe, ts ae anen palge This to : Any fowl-stealer would be stunned with their din before he captured them alive, and the family must be deaf indeed that could sleep on through the alarm thus given. But by day it becomes a nuisance to the majority of hearers, and has caused them to be relinquished by many amateurs. One is inclined to address them as O’Connell did the uproarious fellow who was interrupting his speech, “ T wish you had a hot potato in your mouth.” Or they might take a lesson from Ælian’s Geese :—Oi òè yves SiapeiBovres roy Tadpov Td dpos dedoikact Toùs deroùs, Kal exaorés ye durôv Nilov éySaxdvres, va u) KAGCaow, ooTrepody euBahdovres oist ordpmov, Siamérovrar oiwnavres, Kal tods 88 - THE CHINA GOOSE. derovs Tà TOAAG TavTn StaravOdvover.—Book V. Chap. 29. «The Geese, when shifting about Mount Taurus, are afraid of the Eagles, and each one of them taking a stone in its mouth, that they may not cry out, as if putting a gag upon themselves, fly through their course in silence, and in this manner generally quite escape the notice of the Eagles.” We, however, prefer that our Geese should silence themselves with grass and corn. The eggs of the China Goose are somewhat less than >< those of the domestic kind, of a short oval, with a smooth thick shell, white, but slightly tinged with yellow at the smaller end. The goslings when first hatched are usually very strong. They are of a dirty green, like the colour produced by mixing Indian ink and yellow ochre, with darker patches here and there. The legs and feet are lead colour, but afterwards change to a dull red. If there is anything like good pasturage for them they require no further attention than what their parents will afford them. After a time a little grain will strengthen and forward them. If well fed they come to maturity very rapidly. In between three and four months from the time of their leaving the shell, they will be full grown and ready for the spit. They do not bear being shut up to fatten so well as common Geese, and therefore those destined for the table are the better for profuse hand-feeding. Their flesh is well-flavoured, short, and tender; their eggs are excellent for cooking purposes. I have heard complaints of their being a short-lived species, from good authority, and that the ganders at least do not last more than ten or a dozen years. I cannot verify the fact, as my own ex- perience with these birds extends only to about six years, but it is quite in opposition to the longevity ascribed to other Geese. Hybrids between them and the common Goose are prolific; the second and third cross is much prized by some farmers, particularly for their ganders : and in many flocks the blood of the China Goose may often be traced by the more erect gait of the birds, accompanied by a faint stripe down the back of the THE CHINA GOOSE. 89 neck. With the White-fronted Goose they also breed freely. In the very clear and useful “ Manual of British Ver- tebrate Animals,” by the Rey. Leonard Jenyns, this bird is recorded as Cygnus Guineensis, or Guinea Swan, another synonyme; though it is hesitatingly added, “ Native country somewhat doubtful.” hake THE WHITE-FRONTED, OR LAUGHING GOOSE. ORNAMENTAL Poultry may be divided into three classes, not with reference to their beauty or their natural arrange- ment, but in respect of their capabilities for domestication. The first class comprises those that are really domestic (if we derive the word from domus, a house), that unhesi- tatingly confide themselves to the protection of Man, and may be trusted with their complete liberty, in the certainty that they will prefer the shelter of his roof, at proper times and seasons, to a state of nature. This would include Cocks and Hens, some Pigeons, Turkeys, the Common Domestic, and the China Geese, the Musk Duck, and a few others. ; The second class includes those birds which are restrained from resuming their original wild habits, more by the influence of local and personal attachment, than from any love 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. In this class we have the Pea-fowl, the White-fronted Goose, the Wigeon, the Canada Goose, the Egyptian Goose, and others, including perhaps the Common Duck. The third class embraces all those birds which, however familiar they may become, so as even to eat from the hand of their keeper, are yet in their hearts as untame- able as a fly; and must, therefore, be kept in complete, though to many eyes invisible restraint, lest they withdraw themselves completely from all human control 3; and whose taste for domestication does not seem to increase, though many successive generations of them have been bred in captivity. In this class we have the Swan, the THE WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE. 91 Teal, the common Gallinule, the Pheasant, the Nycth- emerus, and indeed all the inmates of our cages, aviaries, and menageries, that are not included in the first and second classes. It is clear that from the second class alone can we hope to obtain any useful and profitable addition to our stock of poultry. A bird must be found to belong undoubtedly to that, before it can be promoted into the first class. The great difficulty in looking over this unlimited third class, is to discover which species may be advanced into the second. Some are decidedly hopeless cases. The Swan, for instance, and the Pheasant, are no more likely at this moment to become domestic than they were when first discovered amidst the streams and copses of Western Asia. Ages before the discovery of America, while the Turkey remained yet unsuspicious of the settler’s rifle, they were as domestic as they now are, and as they are ` ever likely to be. It is true Temminck speaks of the Cygne Domestique, and says that it, “vit en domesticité dans la plupart des pays, trés abondant en Holland ;” —(lives in domesticity in most countries, very abundant in Holland)—but the term domesticity appears only ` likely to lead into error, when applied to a creature that hates the confinement of a house, pining and wasting if compelled to remain long in one, the use of whose wings is obliged to be curtailed by amputation, which is kept within bounds on a stream only by mutual jealousy and the difficulty it has in travelling far by land, to say nothing of park-palings and mill-dams. _ It is doubtful whether the Collections of the Orni- thological and Zoological Societies, valuable and most interesting as we see them to be in St. James’s and the Regent’s Parks, are likely to do much in increasing our knowledge of the capabilities of domestication inherent in various birds. The specimens are so much under con- trol, so completely circumscribed and dependent, that it is impossible to say whether they belong to our third or second class. If there were in these collections any ———— - PEETUD ESE a io gn eG 92 THE WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE. unsuspected first-class bird, all ready disciplined for full liberty and domestication, its merits and claims could hardly be discovered in the restraint of a menagerie : its prolific powers would certainly be cramped and checked. On the other hand, who, seeing the Water-hens there, and knowing their familiar, approximately-domestic habits, in situations of less restraint, would suspect how invin- cibly they resist all real domestication?—being, as the Rev. R. Lubbock says, in his delightful “ Fauna of Norfolk,” “a very difficult bird to retain in captivity, even when deprived of the power of flight. A walled-in garden has proved insufficient. The trees against the wall are made use of, and the captive claws up by degrees to the top, tumbles down upon the other side, and walks off with the air of a Jack Sheppard.” Much ornithological information has of late been ob- tained, though unfortunately little has been published, by gentlemen who have the means of giving full scope to a few favourites; and if the Societies in question are anxious to effect one of the objects of their institution, namely, the domestication of new and valuable birds and ` animals, they must enlist the aid of the educated Amateur, the resident Squire, the intelligent and influential Steward, the Farmer, and the country Clergyman. The White-fronted Goose is an excellent example of our second class, and well deserves the patronage of those who have even a small piece of grass. Its natural history in a wild state is fully detailed in Mr. Yarrell’s valuable “ British Birds ;” the figure also is very good, though it is a pity that a pair of Geese were not given ; but as the works of that gentleman, like every other original book on the subject, have been largely drawn upon, I refrain from borrowing what he has written, particularly as the object of this volume is, not to encroach upon the department of the systematic naturalist, but merely to state what has been observed of birds that have been reclaimed. The first impression of every one who saw the White- fronted Goose in confinement, would be that it could not THE WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE. 93 be trusted with liberty ; and the sight of it exercising its wings at its first escape would make its owner despair of recovering it. A pair of young ones that were bred in this country were kindly supplied to me, and though they were evidently not wild, their friskiness and vivacity were such that it appeared best to shorten the quill feathers of one wing, and so deprive them of the power of flight till their next moult. Long before that time, however, their confidence and attachment removed all hesitation as to the future. Now, at the most distant sound of my voice, they will come flying, like Pigeons, to alight at my feet ; and occasionally, particularly in winter and spring, per- form graceful evolutions in the air, that show great power of wing and enjoyment in its exercise. They are perfectly unrestrained, except that the kitchen-garden is forbidden to them. During the severe weather last winter, (1846-7), while the herbage was buried deep under the snow, we feared they might be tempted to join some of their tra- velling relations that now and then passed overhead ; but we swept a spot bare in the orchard, to amuse them with the idea of grass, threw down a few Savoy cabbages, gave them a little extra corn, and though they would fly over the house to get at a spring where the water was still unfrozen, they showed no wish to seek their fortunes elsewhere, or desert their old companion, a China Goose, who could only proceed on foot to take her draught at the brook. We have now had them more than three years. In the spring of 1846 the Goose laid some eggs in an exposed spot, and dropped one or two others here and there, which were added to them, and she then sat as well as Goose could sit. But owing to the persecutions of an ill-natured Canada Gander, whose delight it was to drive her from her nest, and waylay and beat her as she was returning to it from grazing, the eggs were all addled, and the poor bird, for some time afterwards, showed her dejection and disappointment, Her mate did what he could to protect her from the assaults of her enemy, but 94 .THE WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE. his inferior size and strength rendered him powerless. She did not produce a second laying, as is the case with many birds under similar circumstances. In the mean- while, the truculent Canadian has been banished, and this spring (1847) she selected a better place for her nest. She scratched a hollow in the ground, at the edge of a grass walk, under a whitethorn, about eighteen inches above the surface of the water. The eggs were removed as laid, and, when she began sitting, restored to her, with a bunch of straw, which she arranged according to her own pleasure, and with which she could cover her eggs whenever she had occasion to leave them. She began sitting on the 7th of April; on the 7th of May two very pretty Goslings came forth, one of which promised to be white; the next day they were missing, and the rat- catcher explained the cause of their disappearance by extracting an enormous rat froma hole immediately under the nest. The remaining eggs proved unfertile ; doubtless from the Gander being permitted to enjoy the society of the above-mentioned China Goose. After the loss of her young, and the abstraction of her worthless eggs, she still persevered in sitting with vain expectation on the empty nest. To prevent this, we filled the hollow with thorns. She then betook herself to watch the success of her rival, the China Goose, who was still sitting, When the little ones came forth from their shelly prison, she assisted in affording them a mother’s care, leading them to the tenderest herbage, brooding them under her wings, and accompanying all their movements with their real parent. The eggs are smaller than those of the common Goose, pure white, and of a very long oval ; whether this is a specific, or only an individual peculiarity, I am unable to say. The shell is also thinner than most other Goose's eggs. The flesh, both of the wild and of the tame bird, excellent. In hard weather, they are frequently to be had at the poulterers’ shops, and generally at low prices, in the provinces at least, owing to an unfounded suppo- sition that their flesh would be fishy, as in the scarcely THE WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE. 95 eatable Brent Goose. But those who are fond of game, will find it, if hung up long enough, a dish for an epicure. If my own birds are to be taken as specimens, the White-fronted Goose is a pattern of all that is valuable | in anserine nature, gentle, affectionate, cheerful, hardy, \ useful, self-dependent. The Gander is an attentive parent, but not a faithful spouse. Indeed, it is time to contradict what has been published on this latter point, and to caution amateur breeders that Ganders have not the virtues of Scipio. Two treatises, now before me, have the following passage, differing slightly from each other in the wording. : “ Tt has been ascertained, by M. St. Genis, that Geese will pair like Pigeons and Partridges ; in the course of his experiments he remarked, that if the number of the Ganders exceed that of the Geese by two, and even by three, including the common father, no disturbance nor disputes occur, the pairing taking place without any noise, and no doubt by mutual choice. Besides the common | father, he left two of the young Ganders unprovided with female companions ; but the couples which had paired, kept constantly together, and the three single Ganders did not, during temporary separations of the males and females, offer to approach the latter.” _Acting on this advice, I permitted pairs of four different species of Geese to associate together last year (1846). Three Ganders of the four appeared to think that each Goose, except his own, was at liberty to. be unfaithful; and that every Gander, except himself, was wrong in committing an infidelity. What with their jealousies before laying time, and their quarrels after it, with plenty of eggs, we did not get a single Gosling of any sort during the whole season. THE WIGEON. “ Quod si quis å viro magno, ac gravi alienum esse putet de avibus, et rebus ad eas pertinentibus scribere, mihi graviter hallucinari, et tota, quod aiunt, via errare videtur. Et illiberalis sordidusque corum animus est, qui hisce spretis ad eas solum scientias incumbunt, que ad rem domesticam solummodo augendam faciunt, et ubique utilitatem, et lucrum spectant; illi profecto Æsopico gallinaceo similes censendi sunt, qui repertæ gemme hordei granum prætulit, quod usum gemme ignoraret, Cum itaque nullum sit animal, teste Aristotele, adeo exiguum, adeoque abjectum, in quo non aliquid rarum, reconditum, imo (ut ita dicam) divinitatis aliquid spectetur, itaque et avium, quæ animalia sunt per- fecta, et admiratione plena, notitia non cum fastu rejicienda, at pro viribus cuique amplectanda est.” —ULyssıs ALpRovaxDI Præfatio. “Tf any one thinks that it is unsuitable for a great and grave man to write about birds and the things pertaining to them, he appears to me to blunder extremely, and, as they say, to have quite lost his road. Tiliberal and sordid is the mind of those, who despise those pursuits, and labour at such sciences alone as are profitable to the household merely, and who look everywhere after utility and gain; truly they « may be compared to Æsop’s Cock, who preferred a grain of barley to the jewel he had found, because he was ignorant of the use of the jewel. Since, therefore, according to Aristotle, there is no animal so little, so abject, that we cannot see in it something rare, recondite, even (so to speak), something of the Divinity, so also the knowledge of birds, which are perfect animals, and worthy of admiration, is not to be rejected with contempt, but is to be embraced by every one according to his powers.” Ir must already have appeared that the object of these essays is not merely to give some account of such birds as are usually domesticated with us, but also to endeavour to indicate others which there is a reasonable hope of rendering subject to the rule of Man, and avail- able to his use. But it is only after much patience and many trials that we can expect to enslave and attach to ourselves any creatures hitherto wild and unsubdued. Even then failures will occur ; but I think there are prin- ciples that may guide us in choosing the most likely subjects for our experiments, which the following account THE WIGEON. 97 of my very limited dealings with the Wigeon may serve to illustrate. When a species of bird or animal has been for many generations, perhaps for many hundred years, in the neighbourhood, within the view and under the partial care of Man, and yet cannot be made to lose its innate shyness, and to prefer the plenty and comfort of domes- tication to a wild and unrestrained mode of life, there is little hope that further attempts on our part will have any effect in bringing such creatures into closer inti- macy with us. The Water-hen and the Pheasant are two sufficient instances among birds, the zebra appears to be one among quadrupeds. But if, in any untried race, we find an attached, confiding, and intelligent disposition, hopes of success may then be entertained, in spite of great apparent difficulties. One which would appear to be a bar to all reasonable hope of domestication, is the migra- tory instinct. But it is not so. The tame Duck is popularly and hitherto undoubtingly believed to be descended from the Mallard, which twice a-year crosses the northern seas. One or two species of Geese have been tempted to prefer the luxuries of home and the friendship of Man to their former periodical voyages through the clouds ; and there cannot be a more settled quiet creature than the common Goose, which is said, with what probability we shall discuss hereafter, to be the offspring of some one or two of these restless varieties. It is not for want of means of escape that the dove-house Pigeon does not betake itself to its native rocks ; for it is said occasionally to come in the morning from the Low Countries to the Norfolk coast to feed on certain crops, and return home in the afternoon; and an excursion across the Wash of Lincolnshire is merely an agreeable trip for exercise. | Even the sheep is to this day a migra- tory animal, “In Spain the number of migratory sheep (Merinos) is calculated at ten millions. Their whole Journey is usually more than 400 miles. It is necessary - to exert great vigilance over the flock during the last ae 98 THE WIGEON. three or four days, for the animals are eager to start away, and often great numbers of them make their escape.”* The sheep of the patriarchs were probably not free from a similar roving disposition. And therefore the circum- stance that a bird visits in the arctic circle, or now and then performs flights of 2000 or 3000 miles, is less opposed to the possibility of its being domiciled in our court-yards than if it haunted the very shrubbery before our windows, displaying at the same time a certain shy- ness, flightiness, suspiciousness of temper, well known to the observant naturalist, that coquets with the authority of Man, but will never yield to it. It may be said that such untameables are wise ; that if we took them under our protection, it would only be to kill and eat them. But though we may devour the individuals, we multiply and perhaps preserve the species. Were the Turkey as wild and irreclaimable as the Bustard, it would soon be as rare and as likely to be obliterated from the list of existing species. What a pity, then, it is that we cannot, before it be too late, rescue, by domestication, some of those curious Australian birds and animals, whose extinc- tion from the face of the earth Mr. Darwin, we may fear, so truly predicts in his “ Voyage of the Beagle round the World.” + The Wigeon is a migratory bird, arriving here in the autumn. A friend, the owner of a decoy, sent me a couple that had just arrived. I cannot call them a pair, * Youatt on Sheep, p. 151. + “ A few years since this country abounded with wild animals ; but now the Emu is banished to a long distance, and the kangaroo is become scarce ; to both, the English greyhound has been highly destruc- tive. It may be long before these animals are altogether exterminated, but their doom is fixed. The aborigines are always anxious to borrow the dogs from the farm-houses; the use of them, the offal when an animal is killed, and some milk from the cows, are the peace-offerings of the settlers, who push farther and farther towards the interior. The thoughtless aboriginal, blinded by these trifling advantages, is delighted at the approach of the white man, who seems predestined to inherit the country of his children.” —Journal, second Edition, page 441. See also Dr, Ernest Dieffenbach’s Zravels in New Zealand. THE WIGEON. 99 because, being taken from a large flock, they might pos- sibly have no more acquaintance with each other than a gentleman in the pit of the Opera need have with any given lady in the boxes. After peeping into the hamper, we were going to turn them out into an inclosed yard to have a better view of them, when an acquaintance who ` was present suggested that they were not pinioned. The operation was performed. They each uttered one faint cry, looking at us imploringly with their large, clear, intelligent eyes. This was no hospitable reception. They were then put under a hen-coop on the lawn, within two or three yards of the living-room window, and supplied with corn and water. We were constantly looking at them, and shifting their coop to a fresh patch of grass. They did not then allow us to see them eat, but there is no doubt that in the night they made up for the partial abstinence of the day. After a week’s confinement in this way, I thought it time to give them greater freedom, by inclosing a small square with wicker hurdles on an island that I wished to become their future haunt, and by removing them there. In a day or two the female had disappeared ; but how? Some railway navvies at work close by were at first suspected, quite unjustly, I believe ; but the hen Wigeon was never after seen or heard of. | A few of the web-footed birds have the faculty of climbing up perpendicular surfaces, which would hardly be expected from their conformation, and it is most likely that the escape was thus effected. The horizontal twigs composing the hurdles would easily be laid hold of by her claws and bill. A fence of reeds placed uprightly confines water birds much more securely. Mr. Swainson quotes a feat of climbing performed by the Gargeney Duck, and Audubon relates the following still more curious instance, “ A dozen or more (young Wood Ducks) were placed in empty flour barrels, and covered over for some hours, with a view of taming them the sooner. Several of these barrels were placed in the yard, but whenever I went and H 2 100 THE WIGEON. raised their lids, I found all the little ones hooked by their sharp claws to the very edge of their prison, and the instant that room was granted, they would tumble over and run in all directions. I afterwards frequently saw these young birds rise from the bottom to the brim of a cask by moving a few inches at a time up the side, and fixing foot after foot by means of their diminutive hooked claws, which, in passing over my hand, I found to have points almost as fine as those of a needle.” —Ornitho- logical Biography, vol. iii., p. 56. The hen having thus scansorially evaded, it was cruel and useless (for breeding purposes) to retain the male bird in solitary confinement. He was, therefore, set at complete liberty; but instead of following the example of his companion—I cannot call her his mate—he ap- peared determined to make himself comfortable where he was, taking his corn with the Ducks, grazing fearlessly at short distances from the house, and courting quite as much as withdrawing from our notice. His favourite position during the. day, when he seemed fond of dozing and sunning himself after he had had his fill of grass, was to bask on the turf before the dining-room window, close by the spot where he had been originally placed in the hen-coop. As the spring advanced he became uneasy, but by no means wild, whistling for a companion, without finding one to answer his call. In April or May he departed, a brook close at hand enabling him to do so. I fear that in his mutilated state the vain search for a partner ended only in capture or death. From what I saw of these birds I must believe the Wigeon to be domesticable. The experience of other amateurs is concurrent. “The Wigeons that I turned out some weeks ago have made their reappearance ; but it is only in the evening, and in the morning early, that they are to be seen.” —HĦ. 0. N. A fairer experiment would be, if possible, to procure birds bred in captivity, to keep them in a confined space (grass is necessary to their welfare) feeding them highly, THE WIGEON. 101 and giving them officious attention for two or three gene- rations. Unfortunately instances of their increasing in captivity have hitherto been rare. Their appearance and > manners are extremely pleasing ; their flesh is excellent. Although there is little fear of their being at present erased from the catalogue of living creatures, as there is for the Apteryx and the Bustard, there is great probability that they, and all other wild fowl will, before many years, become very much scarcer in England, Railroads, drain- ing, and increased population, have already done something, and are daily doing more to diminish their numbers.* They will find a refuge in the swamps of the north, but it would be delightful, meanwhile, to provide some of them witha settled home amongst ourselves. ‘Several cases are known to me in which the domestica- tion of the Wigeon has gone as far as the point here attained, but no further, except that the birds remained permanently contented in complete liberty. Wigeon § that are taken prisoners seem to refuse to breed in cap- tivity; but this is no more an argument against their | intelligence, than it is against that of the Elephant, The surest way would be to obtain from Norway a young brood that had been hatched under a hen, * At Winterton, in Norfolk, the variety of wild birds was such, in 1816, that, in the breeding season, you might kill from twenty to thirty different sorts in a day. Some I had never seen before. In many parts you could scarcely walk without treading on the eggs of Terns, Plovers, Redshanks, and almost every other kind of marsh bird. At certain times, in the winter, the fowl, on their passage from Holland to the south, dropped in here, and literally blackened the centre part of the lakes, called Horsea-broad and Higham-sounds, where they fancied themselves protected by the surrounding ice. I, however, went to this country again, in 1824, and found, that, owing to the drains for cultivation, and increase of the decoys, the quantity of birds was, and has for some years. been, 80 much reduced, that I was obliged to alter the MS. of this statement from the present to the past time, My account would otherwise have proved a gross exaggeration. This shows how few years will put a sporting-book out of date! “The fens are famous for the Ruffs and Reeves.” —Cotonet Hawker, pp. 374, 375. The Ruffs and Reeves are now (1848) of extreme rarity, pees THE TEAL AND ITS KIND. “ I cannot refrain, in this place, from calling the attention, not only of the naturalist, but of the most inexperienced amateur, to this simple yet interesting specimen of ornithological biography (of the Gargeney Duck). It is replete with facts which indicate the true nature of the bird ; and of the circumstances by which its affinities, in a great measure, are to be decided, What a fund of valuable information would a col- lection of such anecdotes contain, if every one, who kept living birds in their possession, would note their manners in the same way, and in the same simplicity of style; and how much might thus be done, more especially by persons abroad, to inform us of the habits of exotic species, of which we as yet know absolutely nothing ! ’7—Swarnson. THESE pretty but provoking little birds, the smallest of our Ducks, are to be seen in almost every collection of water-fowl where there are means of complete inclo- sure. Their movements are brisk and lively. The winter plumage of the male is well-contrasted, and cannot be closely inspected without admiration; the female, like most other Ducks, is what is called extremely neat ; but there is little in their manner or disposition to afford much: interest in observing them. In this respect the contrast is great between them and the intel- ligent Wigeon ; for they are silly, unattachable things, squatting on the ground for supposed concealment under the very eye of the visitor, with the same foolish attempt at cunning which would make an Ostrich hide its head behind a tree or in a tuft of grass, thinking thereby to conceal its whole body. On a large expanse of water they are too small to be of any visible use as ornaments, except in the shape of mere dots. Their escape, more- over, cannot be prevented by mere pinioning alone ; they will crawl along drains, wriggle their little bodies through any accidental hole, and must be confined where they are wanted to remain by upright iron railing, a fence of reeds set perpendicularly, or something of the kind, THE TEAL. 103 carefully fixed. Wire netting will not do, particularly if it be intended to associate the Carolina Duck, or other similar birds, with them, for the reason mentioned when speaking of the Wigeon, namely, that these latter certainly will climb over it as easily as a lamplighter runs up his ladder. The railing should also be made rat-proof, according to the very ingenious pattern which may be seen at the gardens of the London Zoological Society. Thus protected and restrained they will thrive and breed in a very limited compass. The merest thread of running water will be sufficient to supply a miniature pond for them, which, with the addition of tasteful breeding- boxes, low shrubs, a little rock-work, a few shells, some water-plants, and half-a-dozen gold fish, would serve to make an elegant toy in a lady’s flower-garden. Part at least of the bank of the pond should slope gently into the water, to serve as a landing-place, and to afford an easy exit and entrance to the Teal and their young. The bottom should be partly gravel or sand, partly small shingle, and partly mud. Very pleasing designs for these inclogures, of tried practical utility, are to be seen in the various receptacles for water-fowl in and about London. The little isolated nesting-places, fixed on a stake in the middle of the pond, at a level with its surface, are safe from most vermin except rats and stoats (which will readily take the water in search of a dinner), and seem to please the birds, and to make them comfortably at home. The style of the fittings admits of endless varia- tion, according to the taste of the owner. In such a home they will breed freely ; but the little ones, as soon as their wings are long enough, will be off, like a swarm of flies, and never be seen more; so that a person may rear them year after year without being at all the better for them, unless a timely check is placed upon their flight by the keeper’s amputating knife. It is a pity not to secure all home-hatched birds, as they may perhaps turn out somewhat less intractable than their parents ; and the loss of them as a savoury morsel is something ; 104 THE TEAL, no Duck can compare with them in flavour, and their price in the market is always high in reference to their size and weight. Mr. Yarrell says, “in confinement they require grain,” which, with the vessel containing it, should be submerged about an inch under water ; the corn will thus be steeped and macerated, and at the same time secured from thievish mice and sparrows. Soft food, such as barley-meal mixed with water, sopped bread, &c., suits them better. When they have young, a little fine pollard or coarse flour scattered on the surface of the water and suffered to spread itself, will be foundaconvenient and natural mode of feeding them. They will skim it off with their little bills, and suck it down with great delight. The smaller sorts of grain, such as millet and canary seed, make a suitable though expensive variation of their diet. A few small fry and minute fish, as minnows, loaches, and sticklebacks, introduced into their pond, would afford them the amusement of catching them, and would not come amiss when caught. If there is not mud enough in the edges of their pond to afford them a supply of minute insects and larvee, some finely- chopped meat or small earth-worms may occasionally be thrown down to them. I have found a loaf of barley- bread a very convenient thing to have in hand for feeding various birds. It may either be given dry in small lumps, or soaked in water, and is nutritious in either state. Exactly the same domicile and management will suit many other congeneric birds—the Summer Teal, the Caro- lina Duck, and the curious and pretty Mandarin Duck, which looks very like a piece of animated chinaware. Of this last there are none now (May, 1848) in the country. But as it is more than possible that the “ Gardeners’ Chro- nicle” may circulate as far as the Celestial Empire, we will warn those who purchase these and similar curiosities to send to their friends at home, against a trick that is now and then played by unprincipled native dealers. The females of the whole Teal family are so much alike in size, THE TEAL. 105 © colour, and markings, that it requires the eye of an ex- perienced naturalist to identify the different species ; and, whether to save trouble, or to prevent us from increasing the stock, the Chinese are said to couple dissimilar birds and sell them as pairs, with little fear of the cheat being discovered. That most lovely creature, the Wood, Carolina, or Summer Duck, Anas sponsa, must also, for the present, be subjected to the same discipline with the Teal. From all that I have seen or heard, on good authority, the hope of their living with us on the same terms as the common Duck must be regarded as visionary. The specimens which are supplied to wealthy purchasers are furnished by importation, not breeding. Numbers die on the voyage from America, or soon after; and, in short, the clearest view of this class of ornamental poultry will be obtained by considering them as aquatic cage birds, and by treating them as such. The opening paragraph of Audubon’s account of the Wood Duck is one of the most beautiful pictures of still life that ever was written. The reader could not fail to be delighted by it. Let him by all means buy the “ Orni- thological Biography,” or hire it ; for I cannot rob any preceding author by stealing his “ beauties,” and sacking the valuables he has acquired by his talent and industry. The form and colouring of this bird are both charming in the extreme, and its size renders it a species much adapted to these small inclosures ; but the high price they fetch at the dealers’ is alone sufficient to indicate some insu- perable difficulty in rearing them here, or elsewhere, in any country from which they could be easily imported. If their affinity to the Teal family affords a correct clue, they are foolish, unimpressible, unattachable, and quite incapable of complete domestication, in spite of Audubon’s hope to the contrary. Experience does not allow us to encourage any such hope. Those he had obtained young “ grew up apace, when I pinioned them all ” (a precau- tion which does not show much confidence in their 106 THE TEAL. domesticability), “and they subsequently bred in my grounds in boxes which I had placed conveniently over the water ;’? and so, as we have seen, will Teal, and be off, never to return, the moment their wings are long and strong enough to carry them. “J feel well assured that, with a few years of care, the Wood Duck might be per- fectly domesticated, when it could not fail to be as valuable as it is beautiful.” True, as to the latter half of the sentence ; for in America, where alone ordinary folks can afford to eat them, the flesh is said to be excellent—first- rate, indeed, “But,” it is added, “the young birds which I raised never failed to make directly for the Ohio, whenever they escaped from the grounds, although they had never been there before,” a trait quite enough to mark their flighty character, without another single circumstance being added. In Dr. Buckland’s valuable “ Reliquiæ Diluviane,” this bird is, by a misprint, called Anas sponsor instead of sponsa ; but the difference is surely great between a bride and a godfather. Persons of wealth, with a permanent tenure of their residence, will sometimes choose to inclose their whole pleasure-ground and shrubbery with an adequate iron fence, or a wall, A fountain discharging itself into a basin on a level with the ground is all that is further requisite for forming a collection of the smaller Ducks in sucha situation. The great objection to this arrangement is, that it will be almost impossible to exclude rats, which will prey upon the eggs and young, and harass the old birds, if they do not now and then destroy one or two. Incessant hostilities against these pests, and the mainte- nance of a good out-door she cat, with her family, will keep the nuisance in check. Regular hours of feeding will invite the birds to the fountain ; and if the varieties are at all numerous, few sights are more beautiful than such an assembly after they have renewed their plumage, and while their wedding dresses are fresh and brilliant. They may justly rank among the most gaudy and spark- ling objects in Nature, with the advantage of brisk and THE TEAL. 107 lively animation. Diving, splashing, wheeling about, dis- appearing, emerging, some with pendant crests, others with glancing eyes, all reflecting a thousand changeful hues in the rays of the wintry or the vernal sun, they afford a spectacle which is outrivalled only in magnitude by the most fashionable ball-room in Europe. It is on this principle of general, instead of particular inclosure, that the aquatic birds in St. James’s Park are brought to such a wonderful degree of familiarity and apparent domestication. Nothing astonishes a country visitor more than to see the almost indiscriminate tameness of the specimens congregated there. But the pinioning knife has not been idle ; even the webbed feet of some have been curtailed of their propulsive powers; and the roar and traffic of the vast Babel around them, keeps them to their islets, smoke-dried though they be, more effectually than the most impervious fence that was ever yet contrived. Bi yy Fi E ik E THE WHITE CHINA GOOSE. Ê Hpdkdeis, tour) TÉ ror’ èst) Onplor ; tis ù Trépwois ; Tis 6 rpdmos THs TpiAoplas. Aristopnanes. (The Birds.) Huelpides. “ Great Hercules! Why, what a monster ’s here, What plumage! what a triple tire of cresting!” Carey’s Translation, Act L, Scene iii. “ Every like is not the same,” is a principle that is beginning more and more to influence the reasonings of zoologists, and to affect their conclusions with respect to wild animals. The important deductions derived from minute differences, in creatures that are almost in juxta- position together, both systematically and locally, may be seen in the late “‘ Voyage of the Beagle round the World,” and in the “ Quarterly Review” on “ Broderip’s Zoologi- cal Recreations” (March, 1848). But with Domesticated Animals a diametrically opposite axiom would seem to hold ; they are described and catalogued apparently on the rule that “ Things may be unlike, and yet the same.” The many different kinds of Fowl are supposed to be varieties—by which, I presume, is meant transmutable, or at least transmuted forms—of one or, at most, two or three wild originals ; and the history of the Domestic Goose is quietly settled by considering it as the result of a fusion of three or four different species melted and mixed into one. Believe it!—those who think that the Bernicle Goose originates from a worm engendered in the sea from rotten wood—not I. Perhaps these Essays may cause the real truth to be more closely investigated. If, within the last half-dozen years, three different sorts (I abstain from using a stricter word) of China Geese, identical with those with which we are acquainted, had been discovered in three adjacent islands of the Indian Archipelago, they would probably have been THE WHITE CHINA GOOSE. 109 formed into a separate genus, say Cygniides, or better, Œderamphus, of which the species might be, first, albus, or galeatissimus, as typical; the next rufipes, and the third, perhaps, bæticus, retaining, though in a different sense, one of its trivial names. We should have as a generic character, “forehead surmounted with a large knob, partly fleshy and partly osseous, increasing with age ; beak powerful, highly ridged, adapted to the digging up and division of roots and tubers, to which purpose it is often applied ;’—they make short work with a potato —“ habits, more terrestrial than aquatic ; attitudes, in the water graceful and swanlike, on land constrained and usually erect ; voice, harsh and loud ; powers of flight very limited and weak,” and so on; then would follow the specific distinctions. Now, we will further suppose that a stock of each of these species was either brought to England, or retained in domestication on the neighbouring Asiatic continent, or both; that the islands became thickly peopled, or repeatedly visited by mariners armed with fowling-pieces, and anxious for fresh meat, and also for sport. The birds cannot escape by flight, nor by running away; they can neither swim so swiftly nor dive so far as to baffle a boat and a crew of stout rowers; they make no attempt to conceal themselves, as a common Hen will if she be hunted in a shrubbery ; their loud cries betray them when unseen ; and, consequently, in their native home, they undergo the fate of the Dodo: they are exterminated. But their aptitude for domestication has preserved the race : they survive in our poultry yards, artificial lakes, and. Zoological Gardens,* and, after a while, they are styled * “ Accedit ad nonnullorum animantium, et earum rerum, quas terra gignit, conservationem, et salutem, hominum etiam sollertia, et diligentia. Nam multe et pecudes, et stirpes sunt, que sine pro- curatione hominum salve esse non possunt.”—Crcero, De Naturd Deorum, II. “The forethought and industry of Man assists in the preservation and safety of not a few animals, and those things which the earth pro- 110 THE WHITE CHINA GOOSE. varieties of, nobody indeed knows what. If they had refused to propagate in captivity, they would have become extinct, like the Uri of the Hercynian forest.” Is this an impossible or even an unlikely case ? Where are we now to find a wild Cereopsis? Where will our great-grandchildren be able to find a Wild Turkey a hundred years hence ? But before finally determining to fix the appellation of species, or variety, to any particular race of animals, it will be necessary first to settle the question of what is meant by the terms Genus, Species, and Variety. They are all understood to denote certain degrees of difference, that are made use of to assist in classification ; but the precise lines of demarcation of each are extremely difficult to define. It is generally assumed that individuals of different genera will refuse to breed together; that the mules between different species are sterile ; and that varieties are merely accidental and recent examples of a slight alteration in the external character of species, which do not affect their continuance as a race, and, perhaps, disap- pear altogether after a time. But in opposition to this, hybrids have been produced between the Egyptian Goose and the Penguin Duck, also between the common Fowl and the Guinea-fowl ; prolific mules are constantly occur- ring between all sorts of species of Geese ; and it is well and practically known, that though varieties breed freely with each other, nothing is so difficult as to establish a cross that shall be a perfect amalgamation of two distinct varieties. Even individual peculiarities are reproduced in the course of generations, + duces. For there are many, both of beasts and plants, that could not continue in existence, if deprived of the protection of Man.” * “ Sed adsuescere ad homines, et mansuefieri, ne parvuli quidem excepti possunt (Uri).” —Casar de Bello Gallico, lib. ii. cap. 28. “But not even when taken very small can the Uri be reconciled to the presence of Man, and become tame.” F Some breeders of great experience firmly maintain that white Pea- fowl are not a mere accidental variety of the common kind, but are a distinct sort ; asserting that the cases, in which white birds are produced THE WHITE CHINA GOOSE. 111 In truth, species and varieties differ only in degree. If we admit that the latter are merely recent changes of organisation, we cannot refuse to allow that the former are so likewise; and thence proceeding backwards, we must apply the same view to Genera and Classes, till we arrive at last at the theory of the development of all ani- mated beings from Monads, as advocated by Lamarck, and more recently by the author of the “ Vestiges of Creation.” This is one mode of explaining the diversity of Nature; the other is by supposing that animals were originally created as we now see them, and that any apparent gaps in the chain or network are caused by the extinction of certain races, not by the uprising of new forms into existence, since the Creation of Man, at least. Now we have indisputable proof of the extinction of very many Genera and Species of innumerable Pre-Adamite animals (and the reader is particularly requested to observe that we have now existing amongst us many Pre-Adamite animals,*—the Common Badger, for instance, of older from coloured parents, are only a breaking out of mixed blood, the “ erying back,” in fact, to a cross some generations back. The white Pea-fowl are certainly of inferior size, and in their proportions bear more resemblance to the Japan breed than to the true Pavo cristatus. * “ Remains of the Aurochs (a species which still survives by virtue of strict protective laws, in extensive forests, which form part of the Russian empire), are found in the superficial deposits of various parts of Europe, some of which carry the antiquity of the Aurochs as far back as the extinct Pachyderms of the newer pliocene deposits. “ That the present European Beaver is not the degenerate descend- ant of the great Trogontherium, is proved, not only by the differences in the dental structure, pointed out in the preceding section, but like- wise by the fact that Beavers, in no respect differing in size or anatomical characters from the Castor Huropeus of the present day, co-existed with the Zrogontherium. Remains of the Beaver have been thus discovered by Mr. Green in the same fossilised condition, and under circumstances indicative of equal antiquity with the extinct Mammoth, in the lacustrine formation at Bacton, in Norfolk. “A fossil skull of a Badger in the Museum of the Philosophical Institution at York, would seem to carry the antiquity of the Meles taxus to a higher point than the Cave epoch, and as far back as any species of the Ursine genus has been traced. Should this specimen Åi ak ies a desta abi tid aca Treanna eam 112 THE WHITE CHINA GOOSE: pedigree than all the Howards multiplied a thousand fold —and I feel convinced many equally ancient birds also) ; and we have, besides, records of modern exterminations successively going on, from the Christian æra to the pre- sent day. No undisputed record, however, is to be found of the sudden emergence into life of a new tribe of crea- tures. Foreign introductions there have been, but nothing more, that there is any affirmative evidence to prove. I am conscious that I may be contradicted by such examples as the New Leicester Sheep, and the very remarkable Rabbits that are now kept in a state of domestication ; but Mr. Bakewell is asserted to have studiously concealed and destroyed every trace of the means by which he established his breed, and the secrets of the Rabbit Fancy are as likely to be made available to the elucidation of Natural History, as are the Hleusinian Mysteries. But so long as our commercial relations continue as widely extended as they are at present, the sudden and unex- plained appearance of any living novelty in England, is by no means of necessity its first appearance on any stage. It may be as old as the hills—some of them, older than the English Channel—and have neither made a sudden drop from the clouds in these latter days, nor have been recently compounded, like Frankenstein’s monster, from the members of defunct creatures, nor yet electrified into life in a pickle jar, like Mr. Cross’s mites. Milton’s noble lines are no longer applicable— “ Meanwhile, the tepid caves, and fens, and shores, Bursting with kindly rupture, forth disclosed Their callow young ; but feathered soon and fledge, They summed their pens ; and, soaring the air sublime, prove authentic, the Meles taxus is the oldest known species of Mammal now living on the face of the earth. “My friend, Mr. Bell, has pleaded the cause of the poor persecuted Badger, on the ground of its harmless nature and innocuous habits ; the genuine sportsman will, doubtless, receive favourably the additional claim to his forbearance and protection, which the Badger derives from’ his ancient descent.” —Owen’s British Fossil Mammals, passim. THE WHITE CHINA GOOSE. 113 With clang despised the ground. * * And straight the earth, Opening her fertile womb, teemed at a birth Numerous living creatures, perfect forms Limbed and full-grown; out of the ground up rose, As from his lair, the wild beast where he wons In forest wild, in thicket, brake, or den.” If such views be correct, it will follow that those who are searching for the wild originals of many of our domestic animals, are altogether pursuing a wrong scent. They might just as well search for the wild original of the Mammoth or the Dodo. It is an assumption, unsup- ported by any proof, to fix upon the wild creature that | nearest resembles any given tame one, and to say, “ Here | is the wild original; the differences which we see have been produced by time and domestication :” or, if there is nothing wild coming within a moderate approach to it, to say, as of the Common Goose, “ It is a combination of three or four other species.’ This is surely not philoso- phical reasoning; it is a begging of the question which would not be admitted in the exact sciences. What a daring leap at a conclusion it is, to get from the Asiatic Argali, the American Argali, or the Corsican Mouflon, any or all of them, to the Sheep at a single vault! Such ratiocination is like the knight’s move on the chess-board, hither and thither, but never straight forward. Nor has the wide gulf between Cocks and Hens and the Jungle Fowl been as yet bridged over by any isthmus to me visible. But what may be said on this latter subject is, for the present, reserved, The principle here sought to © be indicated as a guide for future research, is that existing varieties and species which cannot be exactly identified in a wild state, are, in all probability, the remains of extinct races, the fragments of a ruin, not newly-raised “ seed- lings,” modern sports and freaks of Nature. Man, as he extends his dominion over earth and ocean, is generally a estroyer, occasionally an Enslaver, and so far a Protector, hence sometimes eyen a Selecter and Improver, but never a Creator. I panenna te aa EES RE me S e ees ES =a ener in aie a = THE WHITE CHINA GOOSE, And now to the white China Geese, about whose lineage the reader, we hope, is by this time interested. My attention was first directed to these singular birds by Mr. Alfred Whitaker of Beckington, Somerset. “I wish you could have seen the white variety or species, as it is so far superior in every respect to the brown. The period of incubation of the white China Goose was not more than thirty days, i.e. not longer than that of the common Duck. The white China Goose is of a spotless pure white ”—a very few grey feathers have since appeared —‘“ more Swan-like than the brown variety, with a bright orange-coloured bill, and a large orange-coloured knob at its base. It is a particularly beautiful bird, either in or out of the water, its neck being long, slender, and grace- fully arched when swimming. It breeds three or four times in the season, but I was not successful with them, owing, as I fancied, to my having no water for them, except a rapid running stream. A quiet lake I believe to be more to their taste, and more conducive to the fecun- dity of the eggs. I believe my birds are still in the neighbourhood, as I lent them to a farmer to try his luck with them. The egg is quite small for the size of the bird, being not more than half the size of that of the common Goose. This bird deserves to rank in the first class of ornamental poultry, and would be very prolific under favourable circumstances. You will see both varieties of brown and white China Geese on the water in St. James's Park. My Geese were from imported parents, and were hatched on board ship from China.” On visiting town in May, 1848, my efforts to get a sight of any white China Geese were unavailing. There were none now left in St. James’s Park; there were not any in the Surrey Gardens, choice as that collection is ; nor were any visible at the principal places where poultry is offered for sale. The Zoological Society had parted from their specimens in consequence of being overstocked with other things. Their head keeper seemed only to con- sider them in the light of a variety of the Cygnoides, but THE WHITE CHINA GOOSE. 115 he spoke most decidedly of his experience of the perma- nence, not only of this variety, but also of that of the dark-legged, and the red-legged sorts of the brown kind, thus indicating three races, which, I repeat, would be considered as species were they now discovered for the first time, on three islands even of the same group. From this difficulty I was most kindly relieved by receiving a pair of white China Geese through Mr. China Geese, apparently more terrestrial in their habits; the knob on the head is not only of greater proportions, Whitaker's means. They are larger than the abiss monly meant by a variety of the dark sort, it is a question | whether the bill would not retain its original jetty black, whatever change occurred to the feet and legs, instead of assuming a brilliant orange hue. If the bird were an Albino, the bill would be flesh-coloured, and the eyes would be pink, not blue. Mr. Knight, of Frome, in whose possession they had been for three years, states that he has been unable to obtain any young from the eggs of the Goose, but if he Supplies her with eggs of the common Goose, she inva- riably hatches and rears the goslings. Separate trials of each of the pair with the common Goose and Gander have been made by him unsuccessfully, although the white China Goose lays four times in the year. Another gentleman (N. B.) who also had a pair of the same lot, from China, says, “I had one good brood from the young pair which I kept, but since that they have bred so badly that I have parted with the females and kept a male bird, and now get very good broods. My friends, to whom I have given young birds from my pair, also complain. The Geese sit remarkably well, never showing themselves out of the nest by day, but whether they may leave the nests too long in the cold of the night, I cannot tell. The time of incubation I consider to be about four Weeks and three days. The young birds of the crossed reed in appearance follow the mother, the common I 2 acetal but ofa different shape. If they were only what is ar : 116 .THE WHITE CHINA GOOSE. English Goose, but they do remarkably well; and we have now (July 4) killed two really good and sufficiently fat birds, which were hatched only on the 29th of March last.” I find no mention of the White China Goose in any of the older ornithologists to whom I have had access. Willughby gives separate descriptions of the dark kinds, but elsewhere seems doubtful whether he has not described the same thing under different names. Indeed, in his plates he has confounded the Guinea Goose with the Canada Goose. Some writers speak of a variety with a pouch, or, according to others, lappets under the chin. This I have never seen or heard of in any collection. One cause of the difficulty of recognising the China Goose from descriptions and synonyms seems to have arisen from the general similarity, yet fixed though slight distinctive marks, of the two dark varieties. It is possible that the pouched or lappetted sort may have been for some time lost to this country, and may now be recoverable only in China and its islands. THE TAME DUCK. “Tt would be curious to know when this species was first domesticated 3 but, Reader, the solution of such a question is a task on which I shall not venture. In the domestic state every body knows the Mallard. When young it affords excellent food, and when old lays eggs. A bed made of its feathers is far preferable to the damp earth of the camp of an American woodsman, or the plank on which the trained soldier lays his wearied limbs at night. You may find many other particulars, if you consult in chronological order all the compilers from Aldrovandus to the present day.”—Aupuzon. Nor so many particulars as we might fairly expect, are to be found ready compiled respecting the Duck. One leading opinion seems to run throughout them all, that _our farm-yard Ducks are nothing more than the tamed descendants of old English Mallards. It is a pity to disturb so plausible and general a belief; but an attempt to approximate to the solution of Audubon’s problem, “when this species was first domesticated,” has raised — Some doubts upon the subject which it is of no use to Suppress. _ One thing, I think, may be demonstrated, ¢.e. that the date of its first appearance in domestication on the uropean continent is not very remote, however high may be its antiquity in India and China. In pursuing these sort of inquiries, which are daily becoming more interesting and more important in their conclusions, one regrets that untranslated works on natural history or farming (if such there be) in the oriental languages, are Sealed records to almost every one who has the leisure to make use of their contents. It is extremely probable that great light might be thrown on the origin and history of our domesticated animals by a careful inspection of such works. As it is, we are left to obtain our evidence from imperfect and (with the exception of geology) more recent traces. 118 THE TAME DUCK, If the Swan and the Pelican were forbidden to the Israelites, and their carcases to be held in abomination (see Leviticus xi. 18), the Duck would probably be included in the list of unclean birds ; or, rather, we may without violence suppose that the Hebrew words trans- lated “Swan” and “ Pelican,” are used generically for all web-footed fowl. But, as Scott says, “here the criticks find abundance of work.” I think it may be shown from negative evidence, that the Romans at the time of our Saviour, and subsequently, were not acquainted with the domesticated Duck. I can find no passage plainly declaring that they were, but many implying that they were not. Columella, after having given directions for the rearing of Geese, which, with one or two laughable exceptions, are more sensible and practical than are to be found in modern works, proceeds to offer instructions for making the Nessotrophion, or Duckery. He speaks of it as a matter of curiosity rather than profit, “ Nam clause pascuntur anates, querquedule, boscides, phalerides, similesque volucres ;”’ ‘“ for Ducks, Teal, Mallard, Pha- lerids, and such like birds are fed in confinement.” Then it is to be surrounded with a wall fifteen feet high and roofed with netting, “ Ne aut evolandi sit potestas domesticis avibus, aut aquilis vel accipitribus involandi ;” “that the domestic birds may have no power of flying out, nor Eagles and Hawks of flying in.” His mode of ‘increasing his stock shows that Ducks had not at that time become naturalised and prolific inmates of the Roman poultry-yards. “ Sed antiquissimum est, cum quis yyocorpopeioy constituere volet, ut praedictarum avium circa paludes, in quibus plerumque feetant, ova colligat, et cohortalibus gallinis subjiciat. Sic enim exclusi educatique pulli deponunt ingenia silvestria, clausique vivariis haud ` dubitanter progenerant. Nam si modo captas aves, que consuevere libero victu, custodiæ tradere velis, parere cunctantur in servitute.” —Lib. viii. cap. 15. “ When any one is desirous of establishing a Duckery, it is a very THE TAME DUCK. 119 old mode to collect the eggs of the above-mentioned birds (such as Teal, Mallard, &c.), and to place them under common Hens, For the young thus hatched and reared, cast off their wild tempers, and undoubtedly breed when confined in menageries. For if it is your plan to place fresh-caught birds that are accustomed to a free mode of life in captivity, they will be but slow breeders in a state of bondage.” Cicero also speaks of hatching Ducks’ eggs under Hens (De Natura Deorum, II.) ; but there is nothing in the passage from which to infer that those Ducks were domesticated, but rather the contrary; as he remarks how soon they abandon their foster-mother and shift for themselves. f Pliny describes the flight of Ducks, as rising imme- diately from the water into the higher regions of the atmosphere ; “ in sublime protinus sese tollunt, atque e vestigio cælum petunt, et hoc etiam ex aqua’’ (lib. x. 54) : a performance that would make our Duck-keepers uneasy. The very little mention that he makes of Ducks at all, shows that he did not habitually see them in domestication. From what Ælian says about Ducks we may conclude that he also was acquainted with them in the wild state only. His positive evidence would not be worth much, if the translator of Rabelais was justified in character- ising the “ Varia Historia” as the production of “ Ælian, that long-bow man, who lies as fast as a dog can trot ;”’ but his negative testimony may prove something. In Book v. 33, he describes how the ducklings, unable to fly, and to escape by land, avoid the attacks of Eagles by diving. Tame Ducks would hardly be in much danger from Eagles, whatever mishaps Wild ones might be liable to; although, from the frequent mention of these plunderers in classic authors, there certainly is reason to believe that they were much more abundant, while the great part of Europe remained uncivilised, than they are now. And in Book vii. 7, after having given the Signs of the weather denoted by wild birds, in which he eS 120 - THE TAME DUCK. includes Ducks and Divers, Narra: 82 kai diévat, he proceeds to mention those afforded by Cocks and Hens and other domestic birds, ’Adexrpdves ye pay ka dpvibes nOddes. Supposing it, however, to be proved that the Tame Duck is a comparative novelty in the West, it by no means follows that it is so on the Asiatic Continent and Islands, nor, as a corollary, that it is a tamed descendant of our Mallard. If the skeletons of one and the other were placed side by side, it would require, not a skilful comparative anatomist, but only an observant sportsman, or even an ordinary cook, to point out which was which.* Nor has sufficient weight been attached to the circum- stance of one bird being polygamous, and the other monogamous. When we come to speak of the Domestic Goose, it will be seen how little such a difference is likely to be the result of domestication. Let us not forget too that the domestication of wild races is an art that demands quiet, peace, patience, and superabundance, not merely for its successful issue, but for its being exercised at all, and was little likely to be much practised by any European nation, in the interval between the fall of the Roman Empire and the present day, with a creature that required a course of generations to reclaim it. I am inclined, therefore, to consider our race of farm-yard Ducks as an importation, through whatever channel, from / the East, and to point out the discovery of the passage of the Cape of Good Hope (1493) as the approximate ' date. The early voyagers speak of finding them in the East Indies exactly similar to ours; and the transmission of a few pairs would be a much easier task than to subdue the shyness and wildness of the Mallard, and induce an alteration in its bony structure. The admirable reasoning of Professor Owen respecting our present domestic Oxen, 1s, to my mind, perfectly applicable to the Tame Duck. * “You need not be at a loss to know a wild duck. The claws in the wild species are black.””—Cou. Hawker. THE TAME DUCK. 121 “ My esteemed friend Professor Bell, who has written the ‘ History of Existing British Quadrupeds,’ is disposed to believe, with Cuvier and most other naturalists, that our domestic cattle are the degenerate descendants of the great Urus. But it seems to me more probable that the herds of the newly-conquered regions would be derived from the already domesticated cattle of the Roman. colonists, of those ‘boves nostri,’ for example, by com- parison with which Cæsar endeavoured to convey to his countrymen an idea of the stupendous and formidable Uri of the Hercynian forests. “ The taming of such a species would be a much more difficult and less certain mode of supplying the exigencies of the agriculturist, than the importation of the breeds of oxen already domesticated and in use by the founders of the new colonies. And, that the latter was the chief, if not sole, source of the herds of England, when its soil began to be cultivated under the Roman sway, is strongly — indicated by the analogy of modern colonies. The domestic cattle, for example, of the Anglo-Americans have not been derived from tamed descendants of the original wild cattle of North America : there, on the con- trary, the Bison is fast disappearing before the advance of the agricultural settlers, just as the Aurochs, and its con- temporary the Urus, have given way before a similar Progress in Europe. With regard to the great Urus, I elieve that this progress has caused its utter extirpation, and that our knowledge of it is now limited to deductions from its fossil or semi-fossil remains.”—Owen’s British Fossil Mammals, p. 500. In like manner the Mallard, though not gone, is fast diminishing as a permanent inhabitant of England: the tame Duck, so much larger and heavier, if its descendant, can hardly be called a degenerate one. The Mallard is very widely diffused over the continental part both of the Old and the New World, and therefore its supposed adaptation to domestic life is as likely to have occurred in Asia as in Europe. Its dislike to salt water has made 122 THE TAME DUCK. it less cosmopolitan among the islands, Dampier, in his Voyages, repeatedly mentions that in the East Indies “the tame Fowls are Ducks and Dunghill Fowls, both in great plenty ;” he does not describe the Ducks, except as “the same with ours.” He was doubtless correct in believing them to be the same ; although we know that the old travellers, and many of the modern emigrants, are not very precise in their zoology, and indeed might some- times be excusably puzzled. For instance, when Captain Wallis, soon after he had discovered Otaheite, saw animals lying on the shore with their fore feet growing behind their heads, rising every now and then, and running a little way in an erect posture, he might naturally be moved with curiosity to inspect them more closely: he afterwards found that they were dogs with their fore legs tied behind them, brought down by the natives as a peace-offering and a festival dish. One of the most valid arguments in favour of the deri- vation of the Tame Duck from the Mallard, is to be found in the readiness with which the former returns to a wild or a half-wild state. In Norfolk there is a breed called «© Marsh Ducks,” more from their habits and place of birth than from any peculiarity of race. They are mostly of plumage generally similar to the Mallard, though an ornithologist would immediately distinguish them ; their size and the fineness of their bones are intermediate between the wild bird and the common farm-yard Duck. They are turned out on the marshes to forage for them- selves: indeed it would be next to impossible to keep them at home; and of the number which are annually lost to their masters, it would seem likely that quite as many assume an independent condition, as are killed by birds, beasts, or men, of prey; but still they do not appear to be ever found actually and entirely wild. They are frequently sent to market towards the close of summer, without being shut up at all to fatten, and afford a cheap and relishing addition to the table. Similar instances on a smaller scale are frequent. “A THE TAME DUCK. 123 farmer in our neighbourhood (Wiltshire) has a Duck, of the common black and white sort, that every year takes it into her head to abscond to the river, where she lays her eggs. She does not, however, I believe, pair with any Wild Drake, but remains the whole summer in a wild ‘State with her young ones, and then quietly returns to the yard in autumn. When I have been taking a walk Sometimes about four in the morning, I ‘have frequently Seen her on the Down, about a hundred yards from the water. On being alarmed they would all run and dart into the water with great rapidity : and this plan the old lady has acted on for several years, escaping unscathed by guns and dogs” —H. H. There are several varieties of Tame Ducks, but their merits are more diverse in an ornamental than in a profitable point of view, and will be estimated very much according to the taste of individual fanciers, Those who merely want a good supply for the table, cannot do better than just to adopt the sort most common in their own Vicinity. No country place should be without some, especially in low situations. A Drake and two or three ucks will cost little to maintain, and will do incalcu- lable and unknown service by the destruction of slugs, Snails, worms, and the larve of gnats, and other annoying sects. The only trouble they will give, is, that if there be much extent of water or shrubbery about their home, they will lay and sit abroad, unless the poultry-maid or the boy gets them up every night. Otherwise, they will drop their eggs carelessly here and there, or incubate in Places where their eggs will be sucked by carrion-crows, and half their progeny destroyed by rats. In the neigh- bourhood of large pieces of water, or wide spreading marshes, this will be either impossible, or attended with more waste of time than the Ducks are worth. In which case, and indeed in all cases with Ducks, I believe the Slave-owner’s maxim to be correct, that it is cheaper to buy than to breed. The smaller they are bought in, the More good service they will perform in ridding a place of THE TAME DUCK, minute crawling and creeping nuisances ; and the most profitable management of them is to let them gorge all they can swallow as fast as they can digest it, and to make them fit for table, and for the supply of materials for feather-beds, at the earliest possible moment. The quickest return will be the most remunerative. As to cooking them, there is only one traditional old English mode. We would gladly transfer, as an illustra- tion to these pages, Leech’s admirable “ Romance of Roast Ducks,” from “ Punch,” June 24, 1848, although he ought to have made the accompanying green peas more distinctly visible. “ Lingo.— Ah, Cowslip, if you was a goddess! Jove loved an eagle; Mars, a lion; Phebus, a cock; Venus, a pigeon ; Minerva loved an owl. “ Cowslip.—t should not have thought of your cock-lions, your owls, and your pigeons ; if I was a goddess, give me a Roast Duck.” The Agreeable Surprise, Act 1. In the Principality they have a delicate way of serving them boiled, with onion sauce. On attempting to repro- duce the dish after a tour in North Wales, the result was utter failure, till the secret was discovered that the Ducks must be salted a couple of days before being boiled. Still more heterodox fashions have been practised in former days. “The Pottage of Ducks with Turnips, is made of Ducks larded, and half fried in Lard, or which have took _ three or four Turns on the Spit; then they are put in a “Pote The Turnips, after they have been cut in Pieces, and flour’d, are also fried in Lard, till they are very brown ; then they are put in the same Pot with the Ducks, and left to boil slowly in Water, till the Ducks are done. Before the Pottage is carried to Table, it may be season’d with a few drops of Verjuice.”’ “ To make a ‘ Ragout of Ducks,’ they must be larded, fried, very well season’d with Salt, Pepper, Spices, young Onions, and Parsley, and put in a Pot to stew, with a little of our best Broth.” THE TAME DUCK. 125 “ Ducks are roasted with four Roses of Lardons, one on each Wing, and one on each Leg: Some put another on the Stomach.” - “To make a Duck Pye, the Ducks must be larded, well seasoned, and the Pye baked for the Space of three ours.” —Dennis de Coetlogon’s Universal History, p- 827, et seg. The reader will take his choice ; we only wish him a good appetite and pleasant company; the living birds belong more properly to our department. Of White Ducks, the best is the Aylesbury, with its unspotted snowy plumage and yellow legs and feet. It is large and excellent for the table, but not larger or better than others. They are assiduous mothers and nurses, especially after the experience of two or three seasons. A much smaller race of White Ducks is im- ported from Holland ; their chief merit, indicated by the title of Call Duck, consists in their incessant loquacity.* They are useful only to the proprietors of extensive or Secluded waters, as enticers of passing wild birds to alight and join their society. But in Norfolk, where the Management of Decoys is as well understood as any- Where, the trained Decoy Ducks are selected to resemble the Mallard, male and female, as nearly as possible. Both Systems are found to answer; the wild-coloured traitors arouse no suspicion, while the conspicuous Dutchmen excite fatal attention and curiosity. When the newly- * “The chief point to be attended to in England, is to get, if pos- sible, some young wild Ducks bred up and pinioned. Or, by way of |) a makeshift, to select tame birds which are the most clamorous, even if their colour should not be like the wild ones. But in France you have seldom any trouble to do this, as the Ducks used in that country are partly of the wild breed; and three French Ducks, like three tenchmen, will make about as much noise as a dozen English. The Italians, in order to make their call-birds noisy, for a “ roccalo,” burn out their eyes with a hot needle, a practice at which I am sure my English readers would shudder; though the translation of what they say in Italy is, that ‘ these are the happiest birds in the world; always singing.’ —Cotonez Hawxer’s Instructions, p. 367. eee THE TAME DUCK. arrived immigrants, although bent on a pleasure excursion from the north, are listless, or suspicious of their company, and will not enter the Decoy, they may often be made to do so by the sudden display of a red handkerchief, or the rapid appearance and disappearance of a Spaniel, There is also the White Hook-billed Duck, with a bill monstrously curved downwards, not upwards, as some writers have it, Roman-nosed Ducks in short, with features like Cruikshank’s Jews, of a most grotesque and ludicrous appearance. It may be superfluous to remind the reader, that White Ducks make but a sorry figure in towns or dirty suburbs, or any where that the means of washing themselves are scanty. The cottagers living on the northern coast of Norfolk have one or two varieties that are very pretty, and are not usual,—one of a slate-grey or bluish dun, another of a sandy yellow; there are some also with top-knots,* which rival the Hook-billed Duck in oddity. Of mottled and pied sorts there exist a great variety; black and white, brown and white, lightly speckled, and many other mixtures. The Rouen Duck of Poultry- books can hardly be separated from this miscellaneous rabble, and ought to be permitted to return to its original obscurity in the multitude. It is wrong to lead people to pay high prices for them as stock; and we are quite at a loss to discover in them any unusual merit or other describable peculiarity. They appear to be identical with the commonest Ducks which we have everywhere. Penguin Ducks ought also to go in company with this odd lot. Their peculiarity consists in walking uprightly, in feeble imitation of a Penguin. But it is not strikingly apparent when they are in an ordinary frame of mind. A sudden fright makes them raise their heads, as it will many other birds. * “Some of the tufted tame Ducks, near Salisbury, are very handsome, having crests as compact and spherical as any Polish Fowl; but whether this is, or was, any distinct variety, I will not undertake to say.”—H, H. THE TAME DUCK. 127 A variety not usually met with, but which deserves to be better known, is that advertised by the Messrs. Baker as the Labrador Duck ; the Zoological Society have had it under the name of Buenos Ayres Duck, and received it from that place ; in the south of England it is known as the Black East Indian Duck. It would be difficult to X upon three more dissimilar and widely-separated spots on the face of the globe. We may at once discard the claim of Labrador, however rich in wild specimens, to the honour of sending any new tame variety of bird. Believing that our Tame Ducks are all importations from the East, I should give the preference to the Indian title. Nothing is more probable than that the Zoological Society had their birds from the East, vić Buenos Ayres. Whether the stock had been introduced there a month, or twenty years, previously, does not alter the main fact ; while ships direct from India would be very likely to land a few pairs at the first Channel port they touched at. But from whatever quarter obtained, they are hand- Some creatures. A little girl, at her first sight of them, could not help exclaiming—‘ Oh! what beautiful golden- Steen Ducks!” The feet, legs, and entire plumage, should be black : a few white feathers will occasionally appear ; ut I had some birds that were immaculate, and such should be the model of the breeder. The bill also is black, with a slight under-tinge of green. Not only the neck and back, but the larger feathers of the tail and Wings, are gilt with metallic green ; the female also exhibits slight traces of the same decoration. On a sunshiny day of spring, the effect of these glittering Black Ducks sport- ing on the blue water, is very pleasing, especially if in Company with a party of the Decoy breed in strictly ailard plumage. A peculiarity of these Black East Indian Ducks is, that they occasiona that is, at the commencement , of the season—lay black eggs; the colour of those | Subsequently laid gradually fades to that of the com- mon kinds. This strange appearance is not caused | y 128 THE TAME DUCK, by any internal stain penetrating the whole thickness of the shell, but by an oily pigment which may be scraped off with the nail. They lay, perhaps, a little later than other Ducks, but are not more difficult to rear. Their voice is said to differ slightly—a fact I have not observed : but they are far superior to others in having a high Wild Duck flavour, and if well kept, are in just repute as being excellent food when killed immediately from the pond, without any fatting. My attention was first called to them by a friend and neighbour, to whom I am indebted not only for the information, but for handsome specimens, The time of incubation of the Tame Duck is thirty days.* The best mode of rearing them depends very much upon the situation in which they are hatched. For the first month, the confinement of their mother under a coop is better than too much liberty. All kinds of sopped food, barley-meal and water mixed thin, worms, &c., suit them. No people are more successful than cot- tagers, who keep them for the first period of their existence in pens two or three yards square, cramming them night and morning with long dried pellets of flour and water, or egg and flour, till they are judged old enough to be turned out with their mother to forage on * Does the Mallard differ in this respect from the Tame Duck? T think not. But, according to Audubon, “at length, in about three weeks, the young (of the former) begin to cheep in the shell.” Did we not know his usual great accuracy, we should suspect some error, and also be startled at the subjoined statement. “The squatters of the Mississipi raise a considerable number of Mallards, which they catch when quite young, and which, after the first year, are as tame as they can wish. These birds raise broods which are superior even to those of the old ones, for a year or two, after which they become similar to the ordinary Ducks of the poultry-yard. The hybrids produced be- | \ tween the Mallard and the Muscovy Duck are of great size, and afford excellent eating. Some of these haif-breeds now and then wander off, become quite wild, and have by some persons been considered as forminy a distinct species. They also breed, when tame, with the \ MBleck Duck (Anas fusca) and the Gadwal, the latter connection giving rise to a very handsome hybrid, retaining the yellow feet and barred plumage of the one, and the green head of the other parent.” THE TAME DUCK. 129 the common and the village pond. Persons with exten- sive occupations, over which the Ducks would stray and be lost, will find it better answer their purpose to buy in their main supply of Ducks half-grown, than to rear them, besides having the satisfaction of putting a few shillings into the pockets of their poorer neighbours, A few choice old favourites may still be retained for their Services as grub destroyers, for the beauty of their plumage, and for the pleasure of seeing them swim their minuets in the pond, bowing politely to each other—the ows to be returned—before they take their afternoon’s doze on the grass, with their sleepy eyelids winking from below, and their bills stuck under the feathers of their back, by way of a respirator. The healthy heartiness of their appetite is amusing rather than disgusting. A cunning old Duck, to whom I tossed a trap-killed mouse, tried hard to get it down in the rough state, but finding that impossible, she toddled off with it to the pond, Where after a due soaking, the monstrous mouthful easily slipped down. They are cheerful, harmless, goodnatured, cleanly creatures. As Audubon says, “ They wash them- Selves, and arrange their dress, before commencing their meal; and in this, other travellers (in America particu- larly) would do well to imitate them.” few original notes on the Mallard will not be out of place here, though the facts they record show that the eal and such like water cage-birds have a truer claim upon them, if disposition and habits are to guide our arrangement, _“Thave seen enough of the Mallard of England and Is untrustworthy progeny, to make me doubt of his being the origin of our Farm Duck. That the Mallard Is becoming less frequent every year in our vicinity is true, but we have attributed it chiefly to the exertions of unbidden would-be sportsmen on our river. We still, Owever, have them in certain places in tolerable abun- dance, They are fond of frequenting the furze and heath on our downs in spring, and sometimes breed there, K THE TAME DUCK. but oftener in willow beds and the thick grass in our meadows, whence I have often had eggs brought me, and set under Hens. These generally hatch well, if the Hen’s breast be dipped in water a few times during incubation. There is a decided gain as to docility in Ducks hatched in this way, over those caught on the river, even if only a single day old. Young Wild Ducks are certainly some of the most cunning and slippery little creatures extant, and the best way is to commence handling them as soon as hatched, by which means, and by confining them for some time within an inclosed place, they soon become more reasonable. In every case I have not been able to trust them until the feathers began to appear : but in several seasons that I have reared them, they have been so distrustful, that it was not safe to allow them liberty, and as soon as ever their wings were grown, they were off. On one occasion I had two of these birds, about a quarter grown, that grew exceedingly slowly: they were very wild, and one night made their escape to the river, where they remained until the evening of the following day, when they were retaken. If I had not previously marked them, nobody should ever have persuaded me that they were the same. I could not have conceived that less than twenty-four hours’ immer- sion in the river could have caused the growth it did: but so it was. Another time I succeeded in making a couple so gentle and sociable that when half grown they would follow me, and eat out of my hand. Soaked bread they are very fond of when young, afterwards corn, &c.; the seed tufts of the sedge are a great treat when soaked in their water. The two birds above mentioned were both ladies, and while I was trying to procure a drake, (no easy matter) they vanished about the end of November, being probably whipped up when * out in an adjoining road. One year I lost a fine brood by turning them into an exquisite little pond (as we thought), that had been lined with lime, whereby they became immoveably stuck at the sides, and perished. THE TAME DUCK. 131 Another time, in our great kindness we procured some river weeds, water crowfoot, &c. and placed them in their pond, forgetting it was not running water. The poor little things became apparently tipsy, rolling and turning about in all directions, and speedily coming to an end. One set of docile creatures I succeeded in rearing turned out to be four drakes, and so for one reason or another none have remained over the winter—the more to be regretted as I wished to verify Waterton’s account of the Wonderful changes in dress the Drake undergoes in June and July, the oddest part of which is that immediately on the completion of the bird’s sober change of raiment, he begins to shed those feathers again, to make room for his gala dress. “ One cause of the diminution of numbers in the Mallard here, is a Fox-preserver about half a dozen miles off. These vermin seem to be fonder of Ducks than anything else, and the Ducks are preserved for them! How they catch them has always been rather a mystery to me, but it must be by lying perdue in the sedge for them. This, however, would seem to be but a poor chance, -“* Wild Ducks rendered tame, and corn-fed, are cer- tainly superior to any, having the fine wild flavour with- Cut its fishiness. Beech mast are a good occasional diet mi eg Ducks, if thrown into their piece of water.” — _ THE DOMESTIC GOOSE. WE apply the term “ Domestic ” to the Goose, using only “ Tame” for the Duck, to signify a much closer intimacy with, and submission to the control of Man ; and, as a further contrast, the domestication of the com- mon Goose, like that of the Fowl, hides itself, as we : pursue it, in the remotest depths, and obscurest mists of ancient history. We have already hinted that by the Hebrews, as by many modern naturalists, it would probably be classed generically with the Swan, and so be included in their list of unclean birds. Among the Greeks and Romans, it seems to have been the only really domes- ticated water-fowl ; and appears to have held exactly the same place in their esteem, that it still retains, after the lapse of two or three thousand years, in our farm-yards, and on our commons, Indeed, a modern writer may escape great part of the trouble of composing the natural ` history of the Domestic Goose, if he will only collect the materials that are scattered amongst ancient authors. A very early notice of them occurs in Homer. Penelope, relating her dream, says, A Ai => Xijves por kar okov èelkosı mupoy eovow 3 K Eg bdaros, kal TE opw iaivowa cicopdwoa 9 ° ° ° Pope's version is both flat and inaccurate :— € A team of twenty geese (a snow-white train !) Fed near the limpid lake with golden grain, Amuse my pensive hours.” The “snow-white train,” (I would bet Mr. Pope a dish of tey—as he rhymes it—that Penelope’s Geese were not snow-white, whatever the Ganders might be,) the “ limpid lake,” the “pensive hours,” are not Homeric, but Popeian. The literal translation of the Greek is, “I THE DOMESTIC GOOSE; T33 have twenty geese at home, that eat wheat out of water, and I am delighted to look at them.” We omit the rest of her vision, as little to our purpose ; but her mode of fatting them, and her complacent chuckle at seeing them thrive, could not be surpassed by the most enthusiastic members of the Royal Agricultural Society. If she entertained her numerous suitors with fat roast Goose, it may partly explain why they stuck to her in so troublesome and pertinacious a manner: The alarm given at the approach of the army of the Gauls by the Geese kept in the capitol of Rome, occurred so long back as A. U. €c. 365, or 388 years before Christ. e passage is worth extracting. “Dum hæc Veiis agebantur, interim arx Romæ Capitoli- umque in ingenti periculo fuit : namque Galli, seu vestigio notato humano, qua nuntius a Veiis pervenerat, seu sud Sponte adimadverso ad Carmentis saxorum ascensu eequo, nocte sublustri, cum primo inermem, qui tentaret viam, preemisissent, tradentes inde arma, ubi quid iniqui esset, alterne innisi, sublevantesque in vicem et trahentes alii alios, Prout postularet locus ; tanto silentio in summum evasere, ut non custodes solum fallerent, sed ne canes quidem, Solicitum animal ad nocturnos strepitus, excitarent. Anseres non fefellere, quibus sacris Junoni in summa Mopia cibi tamen abstinebatur: que res saluti fuit. Namque, clangore eorum alarumque crepitu excitus M. anlius, qui triennio ante consul fuerat, vir bello egregius, armis arreptis, simul ad arma ceteros ciens, vadit; et, um ceteri trepidant, Gallum, qui jam in summo con- Stituerat, umbone ictum deturbat: cujus casus prolapsi cum proximos sterneret, trepidantes alios, armisque omissis saxa, quibus adhærebant, manibus amplexos, trucidat ; jamque et alii congregati telis missilibusque Saxis perturbare hostes, ruinâque tota prolapsa acies in Preeceps deferri.” —Livy, lib. v. cap. 47. “ Thus they were employed at Veii, whilst, in the mean time, the citadel and capitol at Rome were in the utmost danger. The Gauls either perceived the track of 134 THE DOMESTIC GOOSE. a human foot, where the messenger from Veii-had passed, or, from their own observation, had remarked the easy ascent at the rock of Carmentis: on a moonlight night, therefore, having first sent forward a person unarmed to make trial of the way, handing their arms to those before them ; when any difficulty occurred, supporting and sup- ported in turns, and drawing each other up according as the ground required, they climbed to the summit in such silence, that they not only escaped the notice of the guards, but did not even alarm the dogs, animals particu- larly watchful with regard to any noise at night. They were not unperceived, however, by some Geese, which being sacred to Juno, the people had spared, even in the present great scarcity of food; a circumstance to which they owed their preservation ; for by the cackling of these creatures, and the clapping of their wings, Marcus Manlius was roused from sleep,—a man of distinguished character in war, who had been consul the third year before ; and snatching up his arms, and at the same time calling to the rest to do the same, he hastened to the spot, where, while some ran about in confusion, he, by a stroke with the boss of his shield, tumbled down a Gaul who had already got footing on the summit ; and this man’s weight as he fell, throwing down those who were next, he slew several others, who, in their consternation, threw away their arms and caught hold of the rocks, to which they clung. By this time many of the garrison had assembled at the place, who, by throwing javelins and stones, beat down the enemy, so that the whole band, unable to keep either their hold or footing, were hurled down the precipice in promiscuous ruin.” —Baker’s Translation. Lucretius, referring to this event (lib. iv. 686) attri- butes the vigilance of the Geese to their fine sense of smell] :— “ Humanum longe presentit odorem, Romulidarum arcis servator, candidus anser.” “The White Goose, the preserver of the citadel of the descendants of Romulus, perceives at a great distance the odour of the human race.” THE DOMESTIC GOOSE. 135 Virgil, alluding to the same occurrence (Æn. viii. 655), ascribes the preservation of the Capitol to an “ Argenteus Anser” (a Silver Goose). Both these poets, therefore, inform us that the Domestic Goose of their days differed as much from the Grey-lag or the White-fronted, as it does at present, a circumstance which the reader is requested to bear in mind. ~ Pliny, about four hundred years later, remarks, (Lib. X. 26), “ Est anseri vigil cura, Capitolio testata defenso, per id tempus canum silentio proditis rebus . . . Potest- et sapientiæ videri intellectus his esse. Ita comes per- petuo adhæsisse Lacydi Philosopho dicitur, nusquam ab €0, non in publico, non in balneis, non noctu, non interdiu digressus. (xxvii.)—Nostri sapientiores, qui eos jecoris bo- nitate novere. Fartilibus in magnam amplitudinem crescit : exemtum quoque lacte mulso augetur. Nec sine causa in quæstione est, quis primus tantum bonum invenerit, Scipione Metellus vir Consularis, aut M. Seius eâdem ætate eques Rom. sed (quod constat) Messalinus Cotta, Messalæ Oratoris filius, palmas pedum ex his torrere, atque patinis cum gallinaceorum cristis condire reperit. ribuetur enim a me culinis cujusque palma cum fide. irum in hac alite, a Morinis usque Romam pedibus venire, Fessi proferuntur ad primos : ita ceteri stipatione naturali propellunt eas . . . . Velluntur quibusdam locis bis anno.” “ The Goose is carefully watchful; witness the defence of the Capitol, when the silence of the dogs would have betrayed everything . . . > It is possible, also, that they may have some discernment of wisdom. Thus one is said to have stuck perpetually to the Philosopher Lacydis, Fie leaving him, either in public, in the baths, by night, or by day.” %4 Our folks are wiser, who are aware of the goodness of their liver, In those that are crammed it increases to a great size ; when taken out it is laid to swell in milk mixed with honey. And it is not without cause that it 18 a matter of debate who was the first to discover such a THE DOMESTIC GOOSE, dainty, whether Scipio Metellus, of consular dignity, or M. Seius, a Roman knight at the same epoch. But (what is certain) Messalinus Cotta, the son of Messala, the orator, discovered the method of cooking the web of their feet, and fricasseeing them in small dishes along with cock’s combs. I am ready heartily to attribute the merit to the kitchen of either. It is wonderful that this bird should travel on foot from the Morini (in the north of France) to Rome. Those which are tired are carried to the front; so that the rest push them on by a natural crowding, . . . . In some places they are plucked twice a year.” A great deal of this is the same as has happened with us, with a slight change of names and places. It is very natural to inquire whence so remarkable and valuable a bird was originally obtained ; but the conclusion generally arrived at appears to me to be inconsistent, not merely with truth, but even with probability—namely, that it results from the crossing and intermixture of several wild species. None of these ancient accounts indicate any such fact; but, on the contrary, declare that the Domestic Goose was in the earliest ages (dating with respect to Man) exactly what it is now. The very same arguments that are used to show that the Domesticated Goose is a combination of the Grey-legged, White- fronted, and Bean Geese, would equally prove that the Anglo-Saxon race of Men is derived from a mixture of the Red Indian, the Yellow Chinese, and the tawny Moor. I cannot, therefore, help suspecting very strongly that we shall err in referring the parentage of the Common Goose to any existing species. Mr. Yarrell hesitatingly says, that “the Grey-legged Goose is considered to be the origin from which our valuable domesticated race is derived ;” and instances the union of a pinioned wild Grey-legged Gander with a Domestic Goose that had been assigned as his mate. \“But those who have . kept many different species of Geese together, well know what unaccountable attachments they are frequently THE DOMESTIC GOOSE. 137 forming, and that they are quite as likely to pair, and | rear young, with individuals of a race apparently the ili most alien to themselves as with their own stock.l' Indeed, | amongst Geese it will be difficult to define the limits of Species, at least if the fertility or infertility of hybrids be the test. But the supposition that all our domesticated creatures must necessarily have an existing wild original, is a mere assumption ; and it has misled, and is likely to mislead, investigators as far from the truth as did the old notion about fossil organic remains, that they were Lithoschemata, as Aldrovandus has it, sketches in stone, abortive efforts of Nature, imperfect embryos, instead of fragmentary ruins of a former state of things. Some naturalists seem already to have had misgivings that such a theory respect- ing domestic animals is not tenable. According to the Rey. L. Jenyns. “ The Domestic Goose is usually considered as having been derived from the Grey-legged Goose, but such a cir- | cumstance is rendered highly improbable from the well- known fact that the Common Gander, after attaining a Certain age, is invariably (?) white. Montagu, also, observes that a specimen of the Anser ferus, which was Shot in the wing by a farmer in Wiltshire, and kept alive Many years, would never associate with the tame Geese. In fact the origin of this last is unknown.” —Jenyns’s Manual of Vertebrate Animals, p. 222. The origin of the Domestic Goose is indeed unknown if we look to an, or his influence, to have originated so valuable and Peculiar a species ; but not unknown if we believe it to have been created by the same Almighty Power who animated the Mammoth, the Plesiosaurus, the Dinornis, and the Dodo. For let us grant that the Grey-legged Oose is the most probable existing parent of the domestic Sort. Now, even that is becoming a rare bird; and the More scarce a creature is in a wild state, the scarcer it is likely still to become. Suppose the Grey-legged Goose extinct ; by no means an impossibility. Then those who THE DOMESTIC GOOSE. must have a wild original from which to derive all our domestic animals would be compelled to fall back on some other species still less probable. It is surely a simpler theory to suppose that creatures that were cotemporary with the Mammoth, have, like it, disappeared from the earth in their wild state, but have survived as dependents on Man, than to engage in attempts at recon- ciling incongruities and discrepancies, which after all cannot satisfy the mind, but leave it inas doubtful a state as ever. Still less is the White-fronted the ancestor of the Domestic Goose. Entirely white specimens ‘of the Albifrons are indeed occasionally hatched in confine- ment, and the Common Goose may now and then exhibit traces of an admiature or dash of blood with it, as it certainly does occasionally, of a cross with the China Goose (Cyenoides) ; but these are mere impurities which wear out, and the race returns to the well-known domestic type. And it will be allowed by most persons who have possessed a variety of these birds, and who have watched and tended them day by day, that the Domestic Goose is sufficiently separated from the Grey-legged by the colour of its feet and legs; from the White-fronted by the extreme difference of its voice, manner, time of incu- bation, colour of the eyes, greater thickness of neck, con- vexity of profile, and many other little particulars that are more easily perceived than described. It might be urged, as a further essential difference, that the Domestic Goose is polygamous, whereas all Wild Geese that we are acquainted with are monogamous. It is true that Wild Geese in captivity will couple with the females of other species, but that takes place by their utterly neglecting their own mate for the time, not by entertaining two or more mistresses at once. It will be replied, that habits of polygamy are the effects of domes- tication ; but what proof have we of such an assertion ? Domestication has not yet induced the Pigeon and the Guinea-fowl to consort with more than one partner, and oe le THE DOMESTIC GOOSE. 139 the Swan, called Domestic by some writers, remains obsti- nately and even fiercely faithful in its attachments. - Of the Domestic Goose there really is but one variety, individuals of which are found varying from entirely white plumage, through different degrees of patchedness with grey, to entirely grey colouring. The Ganders are generally, not invariably white. Such are sometimes called Embden Geese, from a town of Hanover, famous also for groats. Fine white Geese may doubtless be hatched at Embden, as well as in Middlesex, and if actually imported may claim the name of their native place, but cannot on that account be allowed to form themselves into a separate clan. High feeding, care, and moderate warmth, will induce a habit of prolificacy, which becomes in some measure hereditary. The season of the year at which the young are hatched, (and in England they may be reared at any season,) influences their future size and develop- ment. After allowing for these causes of diversity, it will be found that the Domestic Goose constitutes only one Species or permanent variety. Their value and usefulness is scarcely calculable. We omit what is owing to them, as having furnished the most Powerful instrument wielded by the hand of Man. But mM a mere material point of view, and reckoning on the very smallest. scale, we will suppose that a village green Supports only fifty brood Geese. The owners of these would be dissatisfied if they got but ten young ones from each in the year, besides eggs; this gives 500 Geese per annum, without taking the chance of a second brood, Multiply 500 by the number of village greens in the kingdom, and we still form a very inadequate estimate of the importance of the bird. And all this with scarcely any outlay. The little trouble they demand of being Secured at night and let out in the morning, of setting the Geese, and “ pegging’? the Goslings, is a source of amusement and interest to thousands of aged and infirm Persons, in whose affections their Geese stand second only to their children and relations. What a pity it is that such 140 THE DOMESTIC GOOSE, cheerful commons should be ever converted into barren thickets and damp Pheasant covers, to afford a school for young sportsmen and rural policemen to practise their several arts in. The only damage they do, lies in the quantity of food they consume ; the only care they require, is to be saved from thieves and starvation. All the fears and anxieties requisite to educate the Turkey and prepare it for making a proper appearance at table, are with them unnecessary ; grass by day, a dry bed at night, and a tolerably attentive mother, being all that is required. Roast Goose, fatted, of course, to the point of repletion, is almost the only luxury that is not thought an extravagance in an econo- mical farm-house ; for there are the feathers to swell the mistress’s accumulating stock of beds, there is the drip- ping to enrich the dumpling, pudding, or whatever other farinaceous food may be the fashion of the country for the servants to eat, there are the giblets to go to market or make a pie for a special occasion, and there is the whole- some, solid, savoury flesh for all parties in their due proportion. They are accused by some of rendering the spots where they feed offensive to other stock ; but the secret of this is very simple. A Horse bites closer than an Ox, a Sheep goes nearer to the ground than a Horse, but, after the sharpest shaving by Sheep, the Goose will polish up the turf, and grow fat upon the remnants of others. Con- sequently, where Geese are kept in great numbers on a small area, little will be left to maintain any other grass- eating creature. But if the commons are not short, it will not be found that other grazing animals object to feed either together with, or immediately after a flock of Geese. Many instances of the longevity of the Goose are on record, and it is needless to repeat them. I have myself seen one upwards of thirty years of age followed by a thriving family ; but they are capable of reaching double and treble that extent of life. Indeed, the duration of the THE DOMESTIC GOOSE., 141 existence of the Goose seems to be indefinitely prolonged, and not terminable by the usual causes of decay and old age (like Pliny’s Eagle, which would live for ever, did not the upper mandible become so excessively curved as to prevent eating, and cause death from starvation); and reminding us of the accounts, apparently not fabulous, which we hear in these modern times respecting the Pelican and the cartilaginous fishes. One thing is certain, that housewives do not consider Geese to be worth much for breeding purposes, till they are four or five years old. They will lay and produce some few young ones in the course of their second summer; but older birds fetch much higher prices as stock, Three or four Geese may be allotted to one Gander; the male bird is known by being generally white, and also by his bold and patron- ising carriage. He is an attentive sentinel while his dames are incubating, but renders them no personal assistance by taking his turn upon the nest—an error which seems to have originated with Goldsmith. When the young at length go forth to graze, he accompanies them with the greatest parental pride and assiduity. The Goose has the additional merit of being the very earliest of our Poultry. “On Candlemas day Good housewife’s Geese lay ; On Saint Valentine = Your Geese lay, and mine.” In three months, or at most four, from leaving the egg, the birds ought to be fit for the feather-bed, the spit, and the pie. It is better, either to eat them at this early stage as green Geese, or, to keep them another six months, till after they have moulted and renewed their feathers, when they can be fatted till they grow into the ponderous, Satisfactory, succulent joint which suits a healthy Michael- mas or Christmas appetite. It will be found unprofitable to kill them between these two epochs of their life. They will be fatted by being shut up, in society, in a clean, \ ‘ X 142 THE DOMESTIC GOOSE. quiet, outhouse, with plenty of dry straw, gravel, and fresh water, and are there to be supplied for a certain length of time, continued according to the weight desired to be laid on, with all the barley or oats they can eat. The kind of grain used depends upon custom or con- venience, some advocating barley, others oats ; a mixture might perhaps be the most effectual. Barley-meal and water is recommended by some feeders ; but full-grown Geese that have not been habituated to the mixture when young, will occasionally refuse to eat it. Cooked potatoes in small quantities do no harm. A first-rate delicacy, though rather expensive, would be produced by following Penelope’s system of feeding, and giving the birds mvpov e£ USaros, or steeped wheat. The Goose is not only very early in its laying, but also very late. It often anticipates the spring in November, and afterwards, when spring really comes in March, it cannot resist its genial influence. The autumnal eggs | afford useful employment to Turkies or Hens that choose | to sit at unseasonable times: and the period of incubation, * thirty days, is less tedious than that required for the eggs “ \\ of China Geese or Musk Ducks. A dry, airy lean-to or | shed, and the gleanings of a kitchen garden, are all that are needful to rear the young. Their great enemy will be the cramp, which may be kept off by making them sleep on dry straw, and turning them out with their mother for an hour or two every mild and open day. When winter Goslings are expected, a Michaelmas planting (not sowing) of lettuce and endive should be made; the latter will be found particularly serviceable, as also the tender parts of turnip tops. A living turf laid down in the outhouse and changed occasionally, will be relished. A little boiled rice daily assists their growth, with corn, of course, as soon as they can eat it. A rushlight burnt in a Goose- house during the fifteen or sixteen hours of darkness in winter, has been successfully employed to induce the Goslings to eat. And when it is remembered that the candle costs the fraction of a penny, while an early green THE DOMESTIC GOOSE, 143 Goose is worth from seven shillings to half-a-guinea, it will be seen that the expense is not thrown away. Almost all breeders of Goslings administer, by cramming, long half-dried pellets composed of raw egg and wheat flour ; it is an old practice, but is unnecessary, except during mid-winter. We give Columella’s directions for rearing :— _ “ Atque is (anserculus) dum exiguus est, decem primis diebus pascitur in harA clausus cum matre: postea cum Serenitas permittit, producitur in prata, et ad piscinas. Cavendumque est, ne aculeis urticæ compungatur, aut esuriens mittatur in pascuum : sed ante concisis intubis, vel lactucæ foliis saturetur. Nam si adhuc parum firmus, et indigens ciborum pervenit in*pascuum, fruticibus aut solidioribus herbis obluctatur ita pertinaciter, ut collum abrumpat.” — Columella, lib. viii., chap. xiv. ; “ And the Gosling, while he is very little, is shut up in a pen for the first ten days, and fed along with his Mother: afterwards, when the fine weather permits, he is led forth into the meadows, and to the fish-ponds. And Care must be taken that he is neither stung by nettles, not sent fasting to the pasture, but has his appetite satis- fied beforehand with chopped endive or lettuce leaves. or if he goes to pasture still weak and hungry, he tugs at the shrubs and more solid herbs so pertinaciously as to break his neck.” The Roman school of poulterers were N great fear of nettles for their Goslings, and as a counter- uritative remedy, it was proposed to place nettle-roots under the sitting Geese; but one would say that the hettles, not the Goslings, had the greatest reason for alarm. Geese are slaughtered by being bled from the internal parts of the throat, —a slow and cruel method. They, as well as Ducks, should be let out to the pond a few hours efore execution, where they will purify and arrange their leathers as neatly as if they were going to their wedding instead of to their death. Adult birds are almost exempt Tom disease. When three-quarters grown, they occa- THE DOMESTIC GOOSE. sionally, though not often, “go light,” as the country- people call it, and waste and die like a person in a consumption. This usually happens only with birds that are shut up too closely to fat. The remedy is liberty and grass. I have seen the shell of a Goose’s egg that had con- tained three yolks. This, with many other remarkable lusus, is in the valuable collection of Mr. John Smith, librarian to the Great Yarmouth Public Library. THE BERNICLE GOOSE. “ Aves quas vulgus Baumgänse, hoc est arborum anseres vocant, eo quod ex arboribus nasci dicuntur, a quibus stipiti et ramis dependent. Dicunt etiam aliquando ex putridis lignis hæc animalia in mari generari, ct Præcipue ex abietum putredine. Et hoc omnino absurdum est,” — Ortus Sanitatis. “ Birds which the vulgar call Baumgänse, that is, Tree Geese, because they are said to be produced on trees, from the trunk and branches of which they hang. They. say also that these creatures are Sometimes generated in the sea, from decayed planks, particularly fir- wood, And this is altogether absurd.” ; : SEVERAL ornithological writers have lamented, with expressions of surprise, that so few of the larger water-birds have been domesticated, and made to afford us a ready Supply of food, in return for their board and lodging. But it should be remembered that there are two parties to the Proposed arrangement—the master and the slave. If the Captive resolutely persists in saying, “ You may bestow every care upon me, and lavish every comfort, but I will not be the parent of a race of slaves, although I may show a little personal thankfulness to yourself,” the next move for us to make is to procure young that are ignorant of the fascinations of a wild life, and to endeavour to subdue, by kindness, their stubborn nature. If they remain indomitably independent, and refuse to yield, we are check-mated, and cannot proceed a step further. It is Not in our power to increase the number of domesticable birds. “The fear of you and the dread of you shall be Upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth,” is a promise Which will be undoubtedly fulfilled; and thus; as the dominion of Man over the earth daily and hourly extends itself, those creatures that refuse to enter into his train, Will be crushed and perish beneath his advancing foot- Steps ; for, “into your hand are they delivered. Every L THE BERNICLE GOOSE. moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you ; even as the green herb have I given you all things.” The Bernicle Goose is one of those species in which the impulse of reproduction has at length overcome the sullenness of captivity; and it is a curious fact, that instances of their breeding have of late increased in fre- quency, and we may therefore hope will go on increasing. The young so reared should be pinioned at the wrist, as a precaution. The probability is, that they would stay at home contentedly, unpinioned, till hard weather came, when they would be tempted to leave their usual haunts in search of marshes, unfrozen springs, mud banks left by the tide, and the open sea, where they would be hable to be shot by sporting naturalists—a fate which has done more than anything else to check the propaga- tion of interesting birds in England—or might be induced to join a flock of wild birds, instead of returning to their former quarters. Here is a warning example. The pinioning of a brood of Egyptian Geese had been delayed too long ; they could fly, and though they came to be fed as usual, would not suffer themselves to be caught. In the winter, during a hard frost, they flew down to the marshes a few miles distant. Their keeper happened to be on the road thither, and seeing them in the air overhead, called to them as usual. They knew his voice, wheeled about, hovered for a moment, and then pursued their course. Shortly afterwards they were shot by mistake for wild birds, by a person who must have been aware that there was a collection of water-fowl in the neighbourhood ; in which, however, there are now only male Egyptian Geese, the mother of the brood having suffered the same fate. Similar unfortunate mistakes are frequent. Does the paragraph in the local newspaper about the “ rare bird” shot by so and so, esquire, and the stuffed specimen in the smart glass case, compensate for the slaughter ? Broods of five, six, and seven Bernicle Geese have been reared ; not an inconsiderable increase, if we only THE BERNICLE GOOSE. 147 kept them to eat: but they have hitherto been chiefly valued as embellishments to our ponds. Their small size renders them suitable even for a very limited pleasure- ground, and they are perhaps the very prettiest Geese that have yet appeared in our menageries. - The lively combination of black, white, grey, and lavender, give them the appearance of a party of ladies robed in those _ becoming half-mourning dresses, that are worn from etiquette rather than sorrow. The female differs little from the male, being distinguished by voice and deport- ment more than by plumage. Their short bill, moderate Sized webs of their feet, and rounded proportions, indicate an affinity to the Cereopsis. The number of eggs laid is Six or seven ; the time of incubation about a month, but it is difficult to name the exact period, from the uncer- tainty of knowing the precise hour when the process commences. The Geese are steady sitters. Their young had better be crammed with very small pegs for the first week or so, after which they may be entirely con- fided to their parents. They are lively and active little Creatures, running hither and thither, and tugging at the blades of grass. Their ground colour is of a dirty white. Their legs, feet, eyes, and short stump of a bill, are black, They have a grey spot on the crown of the head, Srey patches on the back and wings, and a yellowish tinge about the forepart of the head. The old birds are Very gentle in their disposition and habits, and are €ss noisy than most other Geese. Waterton mentions an instance where the Gander paired with a Canada Goose, a most disproportionately large mate for him to select. he same thing has occurred in Norfolk, but in this case the ludicrous union was altogether unproductive. The service they may render as weed-eaters should not e forgotten, though their size alone precludes any com- Parison of them with the Swan in this respect. Sir W. ardine says that he has observed their feeding-grounds to be extensive merses or flats partially inundated by the higher tides, a circumstance that may furnish a hint L 2 THE BERNICLE GOOSE. that their breeding may perhaps be promoted by their being furnished with a little sea-weed during winter and early spring. They are also sufficiently removed from the typical Geese to make it possible that a few cockles, limpets, shrimps, or small muscles would not be unwel- come. A single pair would be more likely to breed than if they were congregated in larger numbers: and the price demanded by the London dealers is not extra- vagant for healthy living specimens. The young of the Bernicle Goose, like those of the Canada and White-fronted Geese, when left entirely to the guidance of their parents in this country, are apt to be attacked by a sort of erysipelatous inflammation of the head, similar to that from which the Domestic Fowl suffers so much, and which proves equally fatal. The eyelids swell till the bird is blinded ; its sufferings must be extreme, even if it recovers. The parts affected discharge. copiously a watery fluid. Frequent washing with warm water and vinegar is the best remedy, and cramming the bird to keep it alive, must be resorted to. Pills of rue leaves, or a strong decoction of rue, as a tonic, have been administered with apparent benefit. The disease seems epidemic rather than contagious, though I would not quite deny that it is so; but of all remedies warmth and dryness, particularly at night, are the most indispensable. Goslings hatched about mid- summer in the Arctic regions know not what it is to feel the absence of the sun. A Scandinavian summer’s night, even in those latitudes where the sun does sink for an hour beneath the horizon, differs from the day in little else than stillness. There are no frosts succeeding a broiling day, no chilling dews which require hours of sunshine to remove, but all is, for the time, perpetually bright and warm and genial. The difference between such a climate and an English May must be seriously felt by our tender little pets, whatever care we may take to protect them. This clear uninterrupted day, two or three months long, of settled delicious weather, gives a THE BERNICLE GOOSE. ; 149 complete explanation of the apparent paradox that birds should retire to the regions, reputed absolutely icy, of the North, for breeding purposes. But those who have made the precincts of the Mediterranean their Elysium on earth, can have no conception of the health, the vigour, the manly tone of mind and body, to be inspired from Hyperborean breezes. Oh! that I had the wings of a Dove; then would I flee away with my little ones to the rich pine forests, the Tushing streams, the deep-cut inlets of the far North, and be at rest, till the snow drifts of October made us again. retreat, with the wild-fowl, to the temperate and hospitable Shores of Britain ! THE BRENT GOOSE. Tus, and the interesting little Sandwich Island Goose, are the smallest of their tribe yet introduced to our aquatic aviaries ; both being inferior in size to some Ducks. The captive Brent Goose has not, that I am aware, bred in any British collection. According to Audubon, it has been known to produce young in captivity, but when, or where, or on what authority is not stated. To attain this result here, the most likely method is, probably, to make an approach to their natural habits by supplying them with occasional marine diet. Fragments of shells, that had apparently been swallowed whole, have often been found in their gizzards. It might also be expedient to assemble them in a flock, instead of keeping just a single pair, so that they could consult their own individual tastes in the choice of partners. Their picturesque effect, too, will be greater in this way. Their almost uniform colour of leaden black, and their compactness of form, make them a striking feature in the scene, though they cannot be compared in beauty with many other water- fowl. They may always be obtained from the London dealers. There is so little difference in the sexes, that it is not easy to distinguish them. Their chief merit, how- ever, rests in their fondness for water weeds, in which respect they appear to be second only to the Swan. On this account, Ware Goose is one of their trivial names. “ Brent Geese have the cunning, in general, to leave the mud as soon as the tide flows high enough to bear an enemy, and then go off to sea, and feed on the drifting weeds.” —Oolonel Hawker. “On the north-eastern shores of England, where we have had opportunities of seeing them, they might be considered as entirely maritime, not being known to leave the water-mark, or ever to feed on the pastures or young aarti aa a A AEA THE BRENT GOOSE, 151 grain. During ebb-tide, they fed on the banks of Zostera marina, then uncovered ; and Mr. Selby mentions the ulva latissima as very frequently found in their stomachs ; at other times they rest on the sandbanks, which are quite open, and afford no shelter for approach ; or they ride, as it were, just off the land, buoyant upon the wave, and Occasionally pluck the sea-grass or weeds which are yet borne up within their reach.” —Sir W. Jardine. Brent Geese are quiet, gentle, and harmless, in cap- tivity. I cannot agree with those who praise them on- the table. They are fishy, strong, and oily ; but whoever is not fond of such savours, may convert the birds into tolerable meat, by having them skinned and baked in a pie. This bird has, most inexcusably, been confounded with the foregoing. EGGS. “ Videsne, ut in proverbio sit ovorum inter se similitudo ? tamen hoc accepimus, Deli fuisse complures, salvis rebus illis, qui gallinas alere permultas questtis causå solerent. Hi cum ova inspexerant, que id gallina peperisset, dicere solebant.” —Crcrro, II. Academicarum. “ Do you see that the resemblance of one egg with another has passed into a proverb? Yet, granting this to be true, I have heard that there were in Delos many people who used to keep a number of Hens for the sake of profit; and when they inspected their Eggs, were in the habit of pronouncing which Hen had laid that particular one.” Tue Deliaci, it is clear, knew something about “ Eyes and no Eyes, or the Art of Seeing ;” for Eggs are popu- larly supposed to be so much alike, that what can be said about one Egg is thought applicable to every other laid by the same species of bird, the common Hen for example ; but there is nearly as much distinguishable difference between the units in every Egg-basket which is carried to market, as there is between the faces in a crowd of men, or the hounds in a pack. To every Hen belongs an indi- vidual peculiarity in the form, colour, and size of the Egg | she lays, which never changes during her whole lifetime, so long as she remains in health, and which is as well known to those who are in the habit of taking her produce, | as the handwriting of their nearest acquaintance. Some Hens lay smooth cream-coloured Eggs, others rough, chalky, granulated ones: there is the buff, the snow-white, the spherical, the oval, the pear-shaped, and the empha- tically Egg-shaped Egg. A farmers wife who interests herself in the matter, will tell you with precision, in looking over her stores, “this Egg was laid by such a Hen”—a favourite perhaps—* this one by such another ;” and it would be possible that she should go on so throughout the whole flock of poultry. Of course, the greater the number kept, the greater becomes the difficulty in learning the precise marks of each. From a basket of thirty Eggs, EGGS. 1538 gathered in a farm yard as they came to hand, eleven, laid by one or two Hens, whose race we were desirous to con- tinue, were selected in about two minutes by the friend who supplied us with them. If four dozen Eggs, laid by no more than four different Hens, were put at random on a table, the chances are that it would be as easy to sort them as the four suits in a pack of cards. This fact might give rise to curious doubts in a court of Justice. When petty pilfering has been suspected about a farm, Eggs have been minutely marked and returned to the places whence they were taken ; and the parties, in Whose possession they were subsequently found, have been convicted of the theft. And this—if we shut our eyes to the crime (for it és a crime) of laying traps and throwing temptation in the way of the weak—was satisfactory proof. But there are some cases in which the identity of an Egg could be sworn to without any marking whatso- ever ; where the person robbed could affirm positively “ this Egg is my property, laid by such a Hen,’—could Pick it out from a quantity laid by other Hens, and could produce other Eggs to pattern it in proof of his assertion. Few town-bred juries would believe this; and yet it is quite as possible as that a north-country shepherd should Swear to the countenance of a single sheep stolen from a flock of several hundreds—after the death of the animal too—which has been done. A more practical and agreeable application of our remarks may be made in the choice of Eggs for hatching. It has been copied and re-copied from quarto to octavo, through duodecimo and pamphlet, that small round Eggs produce female, and long pointed ones male chicks. Now I assert that the Hen who lays one round Egg, will continue to lay all her Eggs round ; and the Hen that lays one ob- long, will lay all oblong. Consequently, one Hen would e the unceasing mother of Cocks, another must remain the perpetual producer of Pullets; which is absurd, as daily experience proves. Every dairy-maid knows that when a Hen steals a nest and hatches her own Eggs only, 154 EGGS. the brood which she brings home contains a fair propor- tion of either sex. I know well that if any of the said Hen’s female acquaintance spy out her secret hoard, they will set other bipeds a good example by adding to, instead of subtracting from, the property of her neighbour. But such chance additions are not sufficient to account for the mixture of Cocks and Hens in self-set broods, sup- posing the theory to be correct, that the sex of the future chick is denoted by the form of the Egg. Here is an experiment in point. An old lady, whose fowls where all. white, gave me a small globular Egg, as round as a ball; it was added to a clutch of Speckled Dorkings. The result was the due number of Dorkings, and one white cockerel, which we kept till he began to crow: it ought to have been a pullet, unless the composi- tor’s fingers have been busy in reprinting one error at least. Another supposed test is the position of the air-bag at the blunt end of the shell. We are told that, “ if it be a little on one side it will produce a Hen; if this vacuity be exactly in the centre, it will produce a Cock.” But, take a basket of Eggs, examine them as directed, by holding them between your eye and a candle, and you will find very few indeed in which you can say that the air-bubble is exactly concentrical with the axis of the Egg. A Cock ought thus to be, like Ovid’s black Swan, a rare bird. But in many broods, the cockerels bear a proportion of at least one-third, sometimes two-thirds ; especially in those hatched during winter or in unfavourable seasons ; the immediate cause being, doubtless, that the Eggs producing the robuster sex possess a stronger vitality ; the more remote cause being the same wise law of Providence, through which, in the human race, more males are born into the world than females, to meet the wear and tear of war, labour, and accident. In short the Bubble Theory, as far as I have seen, is properly described by its name ; and there are, I believe, no known means of determining beforehand the sex of fowls, except, perhaps, that Cocks may be more likely to EGGS. 155 issue from large Eggs and Hens from small ones. Know- ing, however, that the Egg of each Hen may be recognised, we have thus the means of propagating from those parents Whose race we deem most desirable to continue. Horace, Columella, and Pliny had the same notions respecting the shape of Eggs as are current now, but they applied them to eating, rather than hatching purposes. The long eggs were better tasted, according to them, because they contained Cocks. “Feminam edunt, que rotundiora gignuntur, reliqua marem.”—Pliny, Lib. x. c. 74. “Those which are laid round, produce a female ; the rest, a male.” Again, “ Longa quibus facies ovis erit, illa memento, Ut succi melioris, et ut magis alba rotundis, Ponere, namque marem cohibent callosa vitellum.” Horace, Serm. l. ii., Sat. 4, line 12. Quaintly rendered by Philip Francis, D.D. : “ Long be your Eggs, far sweeter than the round, Cock-Eggs they are, more nourishing and sound.” The popular notion now is that Eggs with buff and brownish shells have a higher flavour, and are more nutri- tious. Aristotle’s opinion is exactly the reverse of that- of the Romans. He says that, civa: rà pèv pakpà kat 0&€a rév dév Ondéa, Ta è orpoyyóňa, Kai mepupéperay €yovra karà r 3&0 äpóeva—“ long and sharp Eggs are females, but that those that are spherical and have a convexity close to the sharp end are males.” One rule is just as good as the other ; that is, good for nothing. When any one will pro- duce a brood consisting entirely of pullets hatched from Eggs selected with that view, I will allow that there exist prac- tical criteria for judging before-hand of the sex of an Egg. “ Preserved Eggs,’ says Cobbett, “ are things to run Jrom, not after.” Perhaps so, perhaps not, as the case may be. At any rate, many articles of cookery, which cannot be made without Eggs, are not things to run from ; and, therefore, preserved Eggs must be had, unless you choose to disappoint the little folks of their Christmas plum-pudding. The greater part of the Eggs brought to market in Norfolk during winter, are certainly displeasing enough, quite uneatable as Eygs, and only not offensive to the smell. They are saved from putrefaction by immersion in lime-water, to which salt is added by some housewives. When wanted, they are fished out of the tub, wiped, rubbed with a little silver-sand to give a fresh looking roughness to the shell, and sold at the rate of eight for a shilling, if the seasons happen to be severe. Cooks say they answer ¿keir purpose : but it is assuredly worth while to try for something better. Reaumur’s experiments with varnish, so well known through the industry of compilers, appear to have suc- ceeded. But varnished Eggs would be both too trouble- some and too expensive to be the subject of more than mere experiment. The best way of obtaining a practical result is to inquire what method is pursued by any set of people to whom preserved Eggs are a matter of neces- sity, not luxury. Now there exists a tribe of men, British subjects, whose daily food, whose staff of life, is fowls and Kggs—both preserved during great part of the year. In maps of the Ancient World, the orbis veteribus notus, we see nations marked down as Ichthyophagi, Fish-eaters, Lotophagi, Lotus-eaters; and a new race, peculiar to the present day, appears to be springing up, the Mycophagi, or Fungus-eaters, who will be wise if they listen to the warnings of Dr. Lindley. Had the people of St. Kilda been known in those days, they would have been styled Ornithophagi, Bird-eaters, and Oophagi, Egg-eaters. Instead of their keeping Fowls, the Fowls keep them. Martin, in his voyage to the Island of St. Kilda, (London, mpcxevitt.) says, “ I remember the allowance of each Man per diem, beside a Barley Cake, was Eighteen of the Eggs laid by the Fowl called by them Lavy,* and a greater Number of the * Subsequently he says, “ The Lavy, so called by the Inhabitants of St. Kilda ; by the Welch, a Guillem ; it comes near to the bigness EGGS. 157 lesser Eggs, as they differ in Proportion; the largest of these Eggs is near in bigness to that of a Goose, the rest of the Eggs gradually of a lesser Size. We had the Curiosity after Three Weeks residence, to make a Calcule of the number of Eggs bestowed upon those of our Boat, and the Stewarts Birlin, or Galley, the whole amounted to Sixteen thousand Eggs ; and without all doubt, the Inha- bitants, who were tripple our Number, consumed many more Eggs and Fowls than we could. From this it is easy to imagine, that a vast number of Fowls must resort here Summer, which is yet the more probable if it be considered, that every Fowl lays but one Egg at a time, if allowed to hatch.’—P. 12. Subsequently (p. 66) he tells us, “ The Eggs are found to be of an Astringent and Windy Quality to Strangers, but, it seems, are not so to the Inhabitants, who are used to Hat them from the Nest (?). Our Men upon their arrival Eating greedly of them became Costive and Feverish,” &c. * * * (Then follows the remedy, which seems to have astonished the Natives.) But this diet is to be had fresh only during a short part of the summer, and provision must be made to prevent famine in the winter, when it is too stormy to fish; there- fore, says Martin, “ They preserve their Eggs commonly in their Stone-Pyramids, scattering the burnt Ashes of Turf under and about them, to defend them from the Air, dryness being their only Preservative, and moisture their onsumption ; they preserve them Six, Seven, or Hight Months, as above said ; and then they become Appetiz- Ing (?)* and Loosening, especially those that begin to turn,” Later travellers inform us that the same system Still continues to be practised. The shells of these sea-birds’ Eggs are more fragile than of a Duck ; its head, Upper-side of the Neck all downwards of a dark- rown, and White Breast, the Bill strait and sharp pointed; the upper op hangs over the lower ; its Feet and Claws are Black,” * Does this mean heavy on the chest, from the Italian a, and petto, the chest? 158 EGGS. those of the common Hen, which circumstance must cause them to be more difficult to preserve; and turf-ashes clearly make a sweeter and more effectual packing than lime-water, or the means usually adopted in England. But they are only to be had in certain localities. Wood- ashes are too light, and cinder-ashes too loose to exclude the air. The Irish plan of smearing fresh-laid Eggs with butter answers well for a limited time, but is insufficient to keep-them through the winter. The plan I have found to succeed best, and can recommend, is to dip each Ege into melted pork-lard, rubbing it into the shell with your finger, and pack them in an old fig-drum, or butter firkin, setting every Egg upright, with the small end downwards. Kggs thus prepared in August, directly after harvest, have been boiled and eaten with relish by myself and family in the following January. They were not like the Eggs we are used to in spring ; but I heard no complaint from the little ones, and they were much better than any kept Eggs we could buy. The following is a cheap and easy recipe on the same principle. Pack the Eggs to be preserved in an upright earthen vessel, with their small ends downwards. Procure from your butcher a few pounds of rough tallow the same day on which the sheep is killed; have this immediately cut into small pieces and melted down ; strain it from the scraps, as is done with pork-lard, and pour it while warm, not hot, over the Eggs in the jar till they are completely covered. When all is cold and firm, set the vessel in a cool dry place till its contents are wanted. The rough tallow will cost about 8d. a pound, and if treated as directed will be free from its usual unpleasant smell, caused by the fleshy parts being suffered to remain in the fat till melting day comes. When the Eggs are used, the grease need not be wasted, but will serve for many homely household purposes. But for those who scorn preserved Eggs, and must and will have fresh ones during the winter, the means most desirable to obtain success are to have young Hens— EGGS. 159 pullets hatched early the previous spring are the best— extreme liberality in feeding, and a cautious abstinence from overstocking the poultry-yard. Eggs are the super- ‘ fluity of the animal’s nutrition—the profitable balance of its stock of provision. A certain quantity of food will keep a certain quantity of Hens in health, without being Sufficient to cause them to lay. Increase the quantity of food, or decrease the number of Hens, and you have a Superabundance, which produces Eggs. But as the rejected Scraps of every family, and the refuse odds and ends of . every farming premises are tolerably steady in their amount, taking one month with another, it is better to have a small number of Hens, leaving them to forage from the supply which is constantly open to them, than to trust to extra hand-feeding, which may be often neglected or shortened. A warm and dry night’s lodging is good, but not so confinement during the day, even in the best of poultry houses. The Hens will always keep themselves out of the wet, and no care can compensate for the exercise and variety of food afforded them by a state of liberty. There is nothing so instructive as a case, whether in law, physic, or poultry-keeping. During the hard Weather last winter, our own Hens not laying, we obtained a plentiful supply fresh laid from a neighbouring farm. The Hens were common dunghill mongrels, the accom- Modation for them not so good as our own. But the Eggs were the perquisite of the farmer’s wife—her pin- Money by a mutual understanding—while the corn went Into the pocket of the farmer. The lady consequently Permitted her pullets, without the least remonstrance, to make a large hole in a barley-stack, pull out the straws one by one, and, when they had tasted an ear, if they did not approve its flavour try another. Whether the man grumbled, and the wife pouted and carried her point, is Not for us to tell, if we knew. It is certain that the price We were charged for the Eggs did not pay for the damage done by their production. A paragraph from the Perth Courier ran the round of the papers, and obtained considerable attention at the time (Dec. 1847) from inexperienced poultry-keepers :— « Hens will lay Eggs perpetually, if treated in the fol- lowing manner. Keep no Roosters ’’—what an elegant word !—“ give the Hens fresh meat, chopped up like sausage meat, once a day, a very small portion, say half an ounce a day to each Hen during the winter, or from the time insects disappear in the fall, till they appear again in spring. Never allow any Eggs to remain in the nest for what is called Nest-eggs. When.the Roosters do not run with the Hens, and no Nest-eggs are left in the nest, the Hens will not cease laying after the production of twelve or fifteen Eggs, as they always do when Roosters and Nest-eggs are allowed, but continue laying perpe- tually. My Hens lay all winter, and each from seventy to one hundred Eggs in succession. If the above plan were generally followed, Eggs would be just as plentiful in winter as in summer. The only reason why Hens do not lay in winter as freely as in summer, is the want of animal food, which they get in summer in the form of insects. I have for several winters reduced my theory to practice, and proved its entire correctness.” No allowance is here made for the different laying and incubating capabilities of different breeds of Fowls; and the Reader will be wise in hesitating before he consents to banish Cocks from his poultry-yard and Nest-eggs from his hen-house. The act of laying is not voluntary on the part ofa Hen, but is dependent upon her age, constitution, and diet. If she be young, healthy, and well-fed, lay she must; if she be aged and half starved, lay she cannot. All that is left to her own choice is, where she shall deposit her Egg, and she is sometimes so completely taken by surprise, as not to have her own way even in that. The poultry-keeper, therefore, has only to decide which is the more convenient; that his Hens should lay here and there, as it may happen, about his premises, or in certain determinate places, indicated to the Hens by Nest-eggs. It is quite a mistake to suppose that the EGGS. 161 presence of a Nest Egg causes a Hen to sit earlier than she otherwise would. The sight of twenty Nest Eggs will not bring on the hatching fever; and when it does come, the Hen will take to the empty nest, if there be nothing else for her to incubate. Any one whose Hens have from accident been deprived of a male companion, will agree with me in saying that they have not done so Well till the loss has been supplied. During the inter- regnum matters get all wrong. ‘There is nobody to stop their mutual bickerings, and inspire an emulation to please and be pleased. The poor deserted creatures wander about dispirited, like soldiers without a general. It belongs to their very nature to be controlled and marshalled by One of the stronger sex, who is a kind, though a strict Master, and a considerate though stern disciplinarian. It does not appear what should make Hens lay better under, such forlorn circumstances as are recommended in the Perth paragraph., They will sit just the same, when the fit seizes them, and so will Ducks; as may be seen amongst those cottagers who, to save the expense of barley, keep two or three Hens or Ducks only, and procure from a neighbour a sitting of Eggs, as they want them. Tt has been stated by Réaumur, who is a high authority, that clear or unfertile Eggs will keep good longer than those that would be productive; but it is doubtful whe- ther the difference is so great as to make it worth while keeping the Hens in a melancholy widowhood on this account. The most natural and least troublesome way of having a winter supply of Eggs, is to procure pullets hatched early the previous spring, and to give them all they can eat of the best barley, or, if expense be dis- regarded, of the finest wheat. But all people are not So nice about their Eggs, particularly during a long sea Voyage. For example, “ It was upon one of the islands that I went on shore, and I found there such a number of birds, that when they rose they literally darkened the sky, and we could not walk a step without treading upon their Eggs. As they kept hovering over our heads at a little M a a NERY ae aR NCI MINI TE TSG IR age rE EMR : W My AF o |i b i ihi ki ih i h im, S a eis Pi i i eh AE § Ai j i jig P ar TES { ar SE iy Te HEL E aie it i! 4 ee Loi ae d 162 _ EGGS. distance, the men knocked many of them down with stones and sticks, and carried off several hundreds of their Eggs. After some time I left the island and landed upon the main, where our men dressed and eat their eggs, though there were young birds in most of them.” —Com- modore Byron’s Voyage round the World. Eggs for hatching should be as fresh as possible ; if laid the very same day, so much the better. This is not always possible when a particular stock is required to be increased ; but if a numerous and healthy brood is all that is wanted, the most recent Eggs should be selected. Some books tell us that Eggs to be hatched should not be more than a fortnight, others say not more than a month old. It is difficult to fix the exact term during which the vitality of an Egg remains unextinguished ; it undoubtedly varies from the very first according to the vigour of the parents of the inclosed germ, and fades away gradually till the final moment of non-existence. But long before that moment, the principle of life becomes so feeble, as to be almost unavailable for practical purposes. The chicks in stale Eggs have not sufficient strength to extricate themselves from the shell ; if assisted, the yolk is found to be only partially absorbed into the abdomen, or not at all; they are too faint to stand, the muscles of the neck are unable to lift their heads, much less to peck; and although they may sometimes be saved by extreme care, their usual fate is to be trampled to death by their mother, if they do not expire almost as soon as they begin to draw their breath. Thick-shelled Eggs, like those of Geese, Guinea-fowl, &c., will retain life longer than thin-shelled ones, as those of Hens and Ducks. Those who are anxious to secure a valuable variety, one chicken of which is worth a whole brood of ordinary sorts, will run all risks; after seven or eight weeks their chance is not utterly gone. Some of the chicks will be found dead in the shell, but those that are hatched, if they survive the first eight-and-forty hours—the great difficulty are not afterwards more weakly or troublesome than ee EGGS. 163 others. In the meanwhile air should be excluded from the Eggs as much as possible: it is best to set them on end, and not to suffer them to lie and roll on the side. Dry sand or hard-wood sawdust (not deal, on account of the turpentine) is the best packing. But when choice Eggs are expected, it is more prudent to have a Hen Waiting for them. than to let them wait for her. A good sitter may be amused for two or three weeks with a few addle-egos, and so be ready to take charge of those. of value immediately upon their arrival. __ Eggs sent any distance to be hatched, should be tightly inclosed in a wooden box, and arranged so as neither to touch each other, nor the sides of the box. An oyster- barrel answers excellently for a small number. Mr. Cantelo, in his little pamphlet, has recommended oats as a packing, and no doubt they form an excellent vehicle, taking little time to pack, filling all interstices, and more- over being useful at the journey’s end. The Eggs should be shaken as little as possible, for fear of rupturing the ligaments by which the yolk is suspended in centre of the Ege, and mixing the two strata of albumen surrounding it and letting the yolk loose. Nor should they be suffered to come in contact with any greasy substance that would Close the pores of the shell, so as to exclude air from the chick, Mr. Cantelo advises, “should any valuable or rare Egg have a defect in the shell, it may be worth while to gum a piece of paper over the part affected, as it is through the extra-evaporation that it would otherwise fail in hatching.” The following case, which has been com- municated to me, is a practical commentary. “ A Duck’s egg was broken at the small end by a careless hen when Within a week of hatching. Perceiving that the inha- bitant within was a fine lively fellow, I closed it over well with wax, and returned it to the nest. At the proper time the duckling came out lively enough, and — proved the best of the brood.” The same gentleman (H. H.) experienced another curious instance of difficulty m hatching. “A young pigeon was unable, for reasons 164 EGGS, best known to himself, to get more than his head and shoulders out of the egg. In this state he remained for days, the parts not growing, and the old birds still feeding him! I released him afterwards, but he did not do nearly so well then, and soon died.” Now we are on the subject of hatching, we may as well refer to the perplexity to which Poultry-keepers are sometimes subjected, when Hens wil sit, at seasons of the year at which there is little chance of bringing up Chickens. Some advise the Hen to be soaked in a pail of water cold from the pump: but if they have a mind to kill her, it is more cruel to do so by giving her fever and inflammation of the lungs, than by simply knocking her on the head. A less objectionable remedy, com- municated by a gentleman who is not likely to speak unadvisedly, is the following, of which, however, I have no personal experience. “I have known one or two doses of jalap relieve them entirely from a desire to sit ; and in my opinion it is far better than the cold-water cure. I have known English Fowls lay in three weeks afterwards,’ But why not let the poor creatures obey their natural propensity? Or, surely, some neighbour would gladly exchange a laying Hen for one that wanted to sit. Others, borrowing an ancient piece of barbarism,* recom- mend a large feather to be thrust through her nostrils ; that she may rush here and there in terror, and give up all thoughts of sitting. The person who would be capable of such cruelty, would properly walk arm-in-arm with the man who had tied a tin-kettle to his dog’s tail. The wisest way is to guide, instead of thwarting the impulses of nature. Let your good Hen indulge the instinct im- planted in her by A Wiser Being than you: give her a * Inhibeturque cupiditas incubandi pinnulé per nares trajectd— Conumetua, lib. viii., cap. v. “The inclination to hatch is prevented by thrusting a small feather through the nostrils.” Pliny more humanely prescribes the same operation as a cure for the roup, “ pituita.” “ Penna per transversas inserta nares, et per omnes dies mota,” “A feather thrust through the nostrils, and moved every day :” a seton, in fact. Lib. x., c. lxxviii. i EGGS. 165 sitting of Duck’s or Goose’s Eggs, and unless the winter be extraordinarily severe, you must be a bungler if you do not rear them by the aid of bread-crumbs, barley-meal, and a kitchen fire. The autumnal laying of the China, and also of the Common-Goose, is very valuable for the purpose. It need only be remembered that too much confinement will give your Goslings the cramp. But it is better to take a little pains, than to be guilty of the above-mentioned cruelties, or to let the poor creature Spend her vivifying energies on an empty nest. Turkey- hens frequently have this late fit of incubation, and on the Continent are much more used as general hatchers than they are with us. One which had been supplied With Duck’s Eggs, hatched fifteen. As soon as she found out what sort of beings she had introducted into the world, she glanced at them a look of that ineffable scorn, which a Turkey’s eye can so well express, strutted slowly away, and never would notice them more. The Ducklings, owever, were reared in spite of her airs; the fire-side and their own innate vigour sustaining them under the excusable neglect of their haughty foster-mother. One of Mine chose to sit on some of her own Eggs in the middle of a tumip field at the end of last October (1847). his would never do; so we brought her home, and set er upon seven Eggs of the Common Goose in a warm outhouse. She hatched six birds, one of which was killed y accident. The remaining five she reared with the greatest affection. A little ordinary care, with a liberal supply of endive, cabbage-leaves, and other garden refuse, and in time also, of barley, thus furnished us with a Welcome lot of early Geese. One of the most extraordinary feats of hatching on record, is that performed by Pliny’s Syracusan drunkard, under whom, as he lay enjoying himself on the ground, Some Sicilian wag slipped a sitting of Eggs, which at the Proper time became Chickens. : Monstrous and mishapen Eggs are not uncommon. hey are to be seen in most collections ; and an Oologist 166 EGGS. of ordinary experience would be less puzzled by them, than by unexpectedly meeting with the Egg of a tortoise. They have given rise to several absurd opinions, the oldest of which is a belief in “ Cock’s eggs,” abortions of very small size, sometimes properly shaped, sometimes spherical, and sometimes contracted in the middle like an hour-glass, with a thick shell and little or no yolk. We had a Hen, that laid one every day, till we put a stop to the practice, by eating her. Similar lusus have also been produced by the thrush, the linnet, the robin, and the plover. Country-people think ‘ Cock’s eggs’ unlucky, and commonly destroy them when they find them ; the effectual way to have better luck with Eggs would be to destroy the “ Cock” that lays such un- marketable articles. Diseased ovaries are their undoubted cause, followed frequently by the assumption of the manners, and even of the plumage of the male. Such a change gives plausibility to the popular notion of Cocks laying eggs, which is not yet exploded among the rustics. Whether it was an old form of speech or grounded on any vague belief of the sort, Martin, before quoted, speaking of the number of Eggs laid by the F ulmar, uses the masculine gender throughout ; thus, “he picks his Food out of the Back of live Whales, they say he uses Sorrel with it, for both are found in his Nest ; he lays his Egg ordinarily the First, Second, or Third day of May ; which is larger than that of a Solan Goose Egg, of a White Colour, and very Thin, the shell so very tender that it breaks in pieces if the Season proves Rainy ; when his Egg is once taken away, he lays no more for that year, as other fowls do,” &c¢.—P. 55. In the days of ignorance, people were now and then thrown into consternation by the appearance of Eggs marked with inscriptions or symbols, in relief, or intaglio. But the evidence of their having been laid in that state is so utterly wånting, and the chemical means of fabricating them so simple, that it is needless in these times to enter further into the matter. EGGS. 167 Another strange, but unsupported belief, or dream, which I must think originated in a joke, or cram, from which imputation, the weight of Aristotle’s authority does not relieve it,* is the notion that there are Hens in exist- ence that lay more than one egg a day. One author says, there are Hens wild in Sumatra that lay three Eggs in a day ; but he omits to state who watched these wild Hens to and from their nests. Another (Richardsén) describing the Cochin China fowl (2nd Edition, p. 38,) says, “ they are very prolific Hens ; Mr. Nolan’s frequently laying two, and, occasionally, three eggs on the same day, and within a few moments of each other.” The statement is confirmed by Irish Arithmetic. “One of the Hens,” he continues, “ ‘Bessy,’ exhibited by her Majesty, laid 94 Eggs in 103 days,’—not quite three Eggs a day, accord- ing to our “calcule.” But if this be a fact, there is no limit to the improvement, of which these double-barrelled Hens are capable, till by the aid of forcing and extra diet, they become, like Mr. Perkins’s steam gun, able to discharge Eggs at the rate of several dozens in a minute. Seriously, it is quite true that the Hen, like other creatures that usually produce but one at a birth, has an occasional tendency to produce twins ; but I believe it will be found that such twins hitherto observed have been united in one shell, and not produced separately. Double- yolked Eggs are well known to cooks, and to farmers’ Wives. Some with triple yolks occur now and then, but rarely, Twin chickens may have rarely proceeded from one Egg. The classic fable of Castor and Pollux looks like some such experience among the ancients ; but those Eggs, being oversized, are usually. rejected for hatching, and I remember no really authenticated instance of the kind, unless the reader be good-naturedly disposed to * “Terover 38 Kad olxoryevels Evia dis THs, huépas. Ñòn dé rives Alay modvrorhoacat, àrébavov did TaXewy.” : “Some domestic Hens, also, bring forth twice in the day ; and some, after having been very prolific, have died in consequence.”— History of Animals, Book vi., c. i. sora aaa oer as DSE DORO PAE EEDE A EEEE EEEE TE f Í t $ i j | | | | 168 EGGS, accept a case from Aristotle as such. However, his idea of twinning in Hens evidently coincides with ours, in spite of his having asserted that some fowls lay twice a day. Ta d¢ didvpa rõv dav, Svoz xet AEKiOovs* dy rà pev Sieipyet rou pù cis GAAnda ovykéxvoba rà @xpa, Trôu evKov erT) duduows* ra Se, oùk Eyer rary thy Suapvow, GAG cvp- atovew* eiri dé ena aXexropides, al mdvra didupa rik- Tovow, os ETL Tobrav omra rò mepi Tyv Nékio lov cupBaivoy * ôkTøkalðeka yáp tis Texovoa, é€édehe Ôlôvpa’ miv sca ovpiva éyévero, Ta Bev ody adda, yovisa* anv doa Td pèn, peisov, Td dé, 2Xarrov yiverar ray Öðúuov * rò dé redevraior, teparades. “ Double Eggs, however, have two yolks, which sometimes, that they may not be confounded, are separated by a thin interstice of the white ; and some- times the two yolks are in contact with each other without this interstice. There are, also, some Hens that bring forth all their Eggs double, so that in these also, the above mentioned circumstance happens respecting the yolk. For a certain Hen having brought forth eighteen double Eggs, disclosed a chicken from each, those Eggs excepted which were unprolific. Two chickens also were disclosed from each of the double Eggs, but one of the chickens was larger than the other. But the last chicken that was disclosed was a monster.” — History of Animals, book vi., chap. iti—Taylor’s Translation. The following is a plausible, but byno means a convincing case. “ At Monklaw, near J edburgh, there was a Duck which laid two Eggs in a day. The fact was proved by locking the bird up, when one egg was found early in the morning, and another in the evening. This remarkable Duck was killed by a servant ignorant of its virtues.’——Note to Whites Natural History of Selbourne, Captain Brown’s Edition, p. 291. Now Mowbray says “ the Duck gene- rally lays by night, or early in the morning, seldom after ten o’clock, with the exception of chilling and comfortless weather, when she will occasionally retain her Egg until mid-day, or the afternoon.” Suppose then that the con- fined Duck, exercising her power of retaining her Egg (a EGGS. 169 faculty often obstinately used by the Turkey-hen, if it be desired to make her lay in other places than she chooses), suppose the Duck had laid one, say at two in the morning, and another at ten in the evening of the same day, that could scarcely be called “laying two Eggs a day,” un- less the confinement had continued, and the same pro- ductiveness been manifested for several days in succession. It is here that proof of the habit fails. Now in regard to the other mode of twinning, the same Editor quotes a correspondent in Loudon’s Magazine of Natural History, who says, “I have lately seen a preternaturally large, but perfect Goose’s Egg, containing a smaller one within it; the inner one possessing its proper calcareous shell.” This is certainly a very singular production. We have fre- quently known shells to have two yolks, but this is the only instance we have met with of one Egg containing another entire one within it.’ Other instances, however, are known. A gentleman in my neighbourhood possesses one, if not two Hen’s Eggs, each of which contains within itself another smaller Egg with a perfect and complete shell: confirming the statement that twins, in the case of Eggs, are inclosed in one common envelope, and not produced one immediately after the other, as in mammalia. Mr. Alfred Whitaker says, “ I find no room for criti- cism in your manuscript. Every fact asserted is borne out by my own experience, with the exception that I never saw an instance of one Egg containing another entire Egg within it. Double Eggs I have frequently seen. Their size, and frequently a sort of suture across and around the centre of the Egg, sufficiently indicate their twin nature. Many years ago (in my boyhood) I placed one of these double Eggs among a sitting of Eggs under a Hen. Two live chickens were brought up to the hatch- ing point, but that labour appeared to be too much for their somewhat divided strength, and they were not actually born alive. The fact, however, shows that the Egg in question was a perfect twin Egg.” This is a =. 4} t4 Bel uy \ { | nM i} 170 EGGS. very remarkable case, and deserved preservation in a Museum. “ Umbilicus ovis a cacumine inest, ceu gutta eminens in putamine.”’—Pliny, lib. X., €. xxiv. “ The umbilical part of Eggs is within them from the top, as it were a drop projecting inside the shell.” This evidently has a reference to the air-bubble. But I am in possession of an Egg of more than ordinary size, laid by a Buenos Eyres Duck, which has one end unclosed, terminating in a sort of membranous funnel, or a continuation of the lining membrane of the Shell, giving the appearance of a divided umbilical cord.* An instance which is not unique. “ On the day after my return from London, I was looking round my farm-yard, and found a fresh nest in a calves’ Stage with one egg in it. On taking it up my servant said, ‘ Here is something curious, and I observed that the Egg was evidently double, and that a small portion of the large end of the shell was soft, and that from the centre of the soft part, a membranous substance was protruding, looking like a dried up umbilical cord. I opened the egg carefully, and found that this cord was attached to an oval sac within, of a dark colour, filling half the Egg, and that below this there was a perfect yolk. I took out this sac with the cord attached to it entire, and put it at once into spirits of wine. My sur- geon, who is quite a naturalist and a very scientific man, was much interested with it. His impression was, that the sac contained a chick, and that incubation had been going on in the cloaca of the mother.” —A. W. As a tail-piece to this chapter may be mentioned the use of Eggs for adornment of the person. Mr. Martin Lister, of York, saith, “The Curruca or Hedge-Sparrow lays sea-green or pale-blue Eggs, which, neatly emptied and wired, I have seen fair ladies wear at their ears for pendants.” To fair-haired, clear-skinned maidens, they * “The stalks of Eggs, whereby they grow to the ovarium, are not solid after the manner of the footstalks of fruits, but hollow and fistulous.”— Wittucuey. EGGS. 171 would be especially becoming ; encased in gold filigree of Genoa, they might pass for turquoises of high price. . The fanciful decorations of a bandeau of pearly shells, a flounce filled with fire-flies, and a necklace of Curruca turquoise, only require a beautiful wearer to set them off to the greatest advantage. So much about Eggs for the present. People have often been astounded by the phenomena of latent heat; a greater marvel is the fact of latent life. NETE EREEREER OE S n) INA E wega M A naano i i a TO NEREA SR SEEE enema wantin wade’ ore T ee ee SP APTN GERI TSAR a a e a Races ARETE on muti na eres at if | ji I al tA R THE DOMESTIC FOWL, “I might be infinite should I prosecute at large all that might be said of this bird, or write a full, exact, and particular history of it. If any reader desires to know more of it, let him consult Aldrovandus, whose design was to omit nothing in his History which was either aye to himself or had been published by others.”—Witiucusy, p ; Ir has been the fate of Aldrovandi both to be plun- dered most unmercifully, and to be disrespectfully spoken of by the majority of ‘his plunderers, on the subject of Poultry at least ; that is, by those who have robbed him at second hand, because they were either too indolent or too unlearned to labour through a heavy Latin folio. But if he did sometimes take the wrong turn in hewing his way through the dense unexplored forest that opposed his progress, it is not magnanimous in us to sneer at him, who have the “Penny Cyclopedia,” the Zoological Society, and the British Museum to refer to. His works are a monument of skill and enterprise ; and as an Encyclo- peedia of Natural History, as far as it had advanced at the close of the sixteenth Century, are of great value to those who can make the misapprehensions, as well as the cor- rect conclusions of their predecessors, subservient to the advancement of science. It is now nearly two hundred and fifty years since “ Aldrovandus his Book” was published, and, in the meanwhile, much fresh information has been collected, much error Swept away ; but on many important points, particularly those respecting theory, we are still no wiser than our forefathers, What is the earliest date of Poultry-keeping ?. Nobody knows. My own belief is, that it is coeval with the keep- ing of sheep by Abel and the tilling of the ground by Cain—a supposition which cannot be far from probability if there is any foundation for the legend that Gomer, the eldest son of Japhet, took a surname from the Cock. h THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 173 Indeed, it would be to him that Western Europe stands indebted for a stock of Fowls from the Ark itself. For, it is supposed by the erudite, and shown by at least pro- bable arguments, that the descendants of Gomer settled in the northern parts of Asia Minor, and then spread into the Cimmerian Bosphorus and the adjacent regions, and that from them the numerous tribes of the Gauls, Ger- mans, Celts, and Cimbrians descended. It is true that there is no mention of Fowls by name in the Old Testa- ment, except a doubtful allusion in the Vulgate translation of the Book of Proverbs (xxx. 31), which is lost in the au- thorised version ; the Hebrew word translated “ gallus ” in one place being rendered “greyhound” in the other: “Gallus succinctus lumbos; et aries: nec est rex, qui resistat ei:” “a greyhound;’’ (some think the war-horse was meant), “an he goat also; and a king, against whom there is - norising up.” It will be seen that the Latin and the English by no means run parallel to each other. There is another equally disputable passage in Ecclesiastes, xi. 4. “ And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird (i. e. at Cock-crowing) and all the daughters of music shall be brought low.” Both passages are quoted by the Rev. Mr. Pegge in his curious paper on Cock- fighting, in the Archeeologia, vol. iii. A still less certain reference occurs in the Book of Job, xxxviii. 36. “ Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts ? or who hath given understanding to the heart ?” running thus in the Latin : “Quis posuit in visceribus sapientiam, vel quis dedit gallo intelligentiam ?” which is commented on by St. Gregory, and the word “ gallus ’’ spiritually interpreted, as having reference to those earnest preachers who rouse men from the slumber of sin, and cry aloud that the night is far spent, the day is at hand. The apparent omission of the name of the Domestic Fowl from the Old Testament may possibly have arisen from this cause, namely, that tending them would be the occupation of women, whose domestic employments are | | i | i i i {| wanan an = s — ~ nea TES A UP RTS TIT A ROTO IRE Sea ANITA T r- RSNA SERRA ETEA CESARE RAEN IEEE tn ens a rean (4 THE DOMESTIC FOWL, less prominently brought forward by oriental writers than the active enterprises of men ; and also, that the birds specially named there are the unclean birds, which are to be avoided, whereas those which may be eaten are classed in a lump as “ clean.” See Leviticus, xi. 13., and Deu- teronomy, xiv. 11. “Qf all clean birds ye shall eat. But these are they which ye shall not eat ; the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the osprey,” &c, Turtle-doves and young pigeons are only mentioned as objects of sacrifice, not as articles of food, ) Aristotle, who wrote about 350 years before Christ, | speaks of them as familiarly as a natural historian of the present day would. It is unnecessary more than to allude to the beautiful comparisons taken from them in the New Testament. The Roman authors of the commence- ment of the Christian era record that they were classed | into such a number of distinct varieties as could only | have been the result of long cultivation. Whether | we suppose that different breeds were collected and | imported from different native stations, or assume that the differences of those breeds were the artificial result of domestication,—whichever case we take, Do- mestic Fowls must have been held in familiar esteem for many, many ages before we have any clear record of them. Either supposition attaches to them a highly interesting and quite mysterious degree of antiquity. Even in our own country they appear to have existed at a time and in a state of society when we should least have expected to find them. “ Britannic pars interior ab ula ipsa, memoriâ proditum They think it \ unlawful to feed upon hares, pullets, or geese ; yet they || breed them up for their diversion and pleasure.”—Dun- -caws Translation. THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 175 Dr. Kidd, in his Bridgewater Treatise, doubts whether the Camel ever existed in a wild and independent state. We do not go quite so far as that in scepticism in the case of Fowls, but still believe that those who, at this epoch, hunt for Cocks and Hens of the same species as our tame ones, either on the Continent of Asia, or through- out the whole inhabited vast Indian Archipelago, will have undertaken but a fruitless search. For certain writers have been at great pains for some years past, with but little success, except in their own conceit, to pitch upon the wild origin of our Domestic Fowls. The first decided attempts appear to have been made by Sonnerat, and to have been followed up by succeeding French writers, whose errors are glaring, and in whose praise little can be said. Réaumur, whose writings are really philosophical and valuable, devoted his inquiries to more practical objects, but Sonnerat was merely a blind leader of the blind, if there is justice.in the criticism of Mr. Swainson, who pronounces that “Sonnerat’s works, (Paris, 1776 and 1778), although often cited by the French authors, are very poor; the descriptions vague, and the figures, particularly of the birds, below mediocrity.” Buffon, who did not die till 1788, had therefore an oppor- tunity of adopting Sonnerat’s Jungle Fowl as the parent of Cocks and Hens, and his vivid imagination made him very likely to have adopted so apparently clear an account, ready telegraphed for his reception. But instead of that, he speaks hesitatingly and doubtfully of the derivation of our Domestic Fowls from Wild Cocks, and seems to despair of indicating their origin. He says, “Amidst the immense number of different breeds of the gallinaceous tribe, how shall we determine the original stock? So many circumstances have operated, so many accidents have concurred: the attention, and even the whim of man have so much multiplied the varieties, that it ap- pears extremely difficult to trace them to their source.” Those authors who, by a pleasant legerdemain, so easily transform one of the wild Indian Ged into a Barn- 176 THE DOMESTIC FOWL. door Fowl,—who put the Jungle Cock, the Bankiva Cock, or the Gigantic St. Jago (?)* bird under a bushel, hocus pocus a little, lift up the cover, and then exhibit a veritable Chanticleer—write as if they had only to catch a wild-bird in the woods, turn it into a court yard for a week or two, and make it straightway become as tame as a spaniel. On such a notion comment is now supereroga- tory. For a difficulty which speaks volumes, is, that those birds which have been pointed out as the most pro- bable ancestors of the Domestic Fowl, do not appear to be more tameable than the Partridge or the Golden Pheasant ; moreover, so remarkable an appendage as the horny expansion of the feather-stem, as seen in Sonnerat’s Cock, would, according to what is generally supposed to take place, be increased rather than diminished and obli- terated by domestication ; and even if got rid of by any course of breeding for a few generations, would be sure ultimately, to reappear. Now, in some races of Fowls known only to the moderns, we observe feathered crests showing an affinity with the Lophophori, the Pea Fowl, and perhaps distantly with the Curassows ; in others, certain Bantams, for instance, we find the feet and legs covered with feathers, indicating some approach to * St. Jago, one of the Cape de Verd islands, may furnish wild Guinea Fowl, but scarcely wild Cocks. The “Gallus Giganteus,” the great “St. Jago Fowl,” is the offspring of an absurd misquotation from Marsden, which has run the round of most compilations, Jago, the native Sumatran or Malay word for a particular breed, has been mis- taken for “St. Jago,” the name for an island. Marsden was well acquainted with his subject, and there is nothing like referring to an original authority. “There are in Sumatra the domestic Hen (ayam), some with black bones, and some of the sort we call Freezland or Negro fowls; Hen of the woods (ayam baroogo) ; the jago breed of fowls, which abound in the southern end of Sumatra, and western of Java, are remarkably large; I have seen a Cock peck off a common dining table: when fatigued, they sit down on the first joint of the leg, and are then taller than the common fowls. It is strange if the same country, Bantam, produces likewise the diminutive breed that goes by that name,”— Marspen’s History of Sumatra, p. 98. THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 177 Ptarmigan and Grouse ; the Silky Fowl has a plumage akin to that of the Apteryx and the Cassowary ; but in none do we see anything like the bony plates in the plumage of Sonnerat’s Cock. A bird with this peculiarity, either in the hackle, or in the wing, after the fashion of the Bohe- mian Chatterer, would be the greatest curiosity that a London dealer could produce. Still, our own Cocks and Hens must have had some progenitors, and if I may venture to offer an opinion, it is this; that the wild race, that which once ranged the primeval woods and jungles, unsubdued by man, is now extinct, for ever gone, with the Dodos and the Deinor- nithes. Such an idea quite agrees with what we now see going on in the world. At no very distantly future time, the Turkey will be in exactly the same position in which I am supposing our Cocks and Hens to be now placed. The race will continue to survive, only from having sub- mitted itself to the dominion of Man. Wild Turkeys are becoming every year more and more scarce in America, and as population increases, and penetrates deeper into the wilds, tillthe whole face of the country is overspread, occupied, and cultivated, the Turkey in the New World Must share the fate of the Bustard in England, and where Shall we find dż then, except under the same circum- Stances as we now see our Domestic Fowls ? How long existing literature will endure it is impossible to speculate ; but should it be swept clean away by any Social convulsion, our descendants, two thousand years hence, will have as much difficulty in determining the origin of the Turkey, as we have in deciding upon that of the Cocks and Hens. At a later point of time than that predestined for the disappearance of the wild Turkey, but one equally inevitable, the last surviving specimens of the Emeu and the Kangaroo, will be such as shall be reared in captivity, for the gratification of the wealthy or the scientific. Man has the power of trampling under- foot, and sweeping every living thing before him in his progress ; but in some cases, at least, he is likely, for his N 178 THE DOMESTIC FOWL. own sake, to rescue the most valuable part of the spoil from destruction, if it will only submit to be rescued, and not refuse to accept a continued existence on such con- ditions. A family of savages would soon consume and destroy a whole province full of wild Cocks and Hens, were it never so well stocked ; but civilised Man can see his interest in their preservation, and it is lucky for Fowls that their destiny threw them in contact with the Cau- casian race instead of Australian aborigines. But the increase of knowledge and humanity may even yet do something to extend a merciful and forbearing conduct towards existing animals, Had the Dodo survived to these days, it might perhaps have dated a renewed term of existence from the day that it was subjected to confine- ment in a menagerie. Now the utter destruction of the Dodo appears, if we think of it, to have occasioned a great loss to mankind: it might have proved a valuable addition to our live stock. It was a gallinaceous bird, covered with fine down. That its flesh was good is proved by the fact of the whole race having been eaten and consumed in so short a time, though there do seem to have been two opinions, some preferring Turtle to Dodo. Its weight (fifty pounds) made it of importance ; its unwieldiness and inability to fly (being an avis, not a volucris) made it easy to confine. It was said to lay numerous eggs ; but if it produced only two or three young in the year, it was at least as prolific as the Sheep. We do not find it stated what was the food of the Dodo. Its strong scratching feet, powerful digestion, thick neck, and enormous beak, seem to indicate that roots might be its main sustenance. Let us hope that the beautiful Honduras Turkey will not be permitted to be extirpated in like manner, The size, inactivity, and sluggishness of such creatures as these are the main cause of the extinction they are undergoing as wild races; but the common Hen has one peculiar habit, which would alone ensure the destruction of her progeny in an unprotected state, in spite of all her THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 179 fruitfulness and her great maternal virtues. Her delight at having laid an egg, expressed by loud cackling, which is joined in by all her companions that are at hand, would, by itself, be sufficient to prevent much increase of her young. The Latin writers called the cry singultus, or sobbing, as if she had suffered pain ; but the notice thus Siven of her delivery was equally public at that distance of time as now. How the squaws and their picaninnies would chuckle to have wild birds abounding around them, that not only produced an excellent egg every day, but told them where to find it! But without going into the wilderness, either east or west, what would become of the larger ground-nesting birds in England, the Water-hen, the Wild-duck (what has become of the Bustard 2), if they were not as silent and stealthy in depositing their eggs, and leading forth their young, as the Hen is noisy and obtrusive? Even Le Vaillant’s ape “ Kees” could learn to listen for the cacklings of his master’s Hens, and Steal their eggs. The habit which so large a bird as the Fowl has of retiring to roost by daylight, and composing itself to repose before it is hidden and protected by the shades of night, would also be a certain source of danger in a wild State. The craving hunter who wanted a meal, need not fatigue himself by a search during the noontide heats. He Would have but to bear the pangs of appetite till evening approached, and then stealing with no great caution under the outstretched branches, he would find a ready prey distinctly apparent between himself and the ruddy glare of sunset. No wild race could survive a few years of Such facile, such tempting capture. Those who would teply by saying that when Cocks and Hens were wild they had not fallen into the imprudent fashion of roosting before dark, and cackling when they dropped an egg, beg the question which we are not disposed to grant them, unless they can positively establish their claim. : The antiquity which I thus assume for our existing tace of Cocks and Hens may perhaps startle some readers; N 2 180 THE DOMESTIC FOWL. but hear Professor Owen on other analogous cases :—“ It is probable that the Horse and the Ass are descendants of a species of pliocene antiquity in Europe. There is no anatomical character by which the present Wild Boar can be distinguished specifically from that which was contemporary with the Mammoth. All the species of European pliocene Bovidee came down to the historical period, and the Aurochs and Musk-ox still exist ; but the one owes its preservation to special imperial protection, and the other has been driven, like the Rein-deer, to high northern latitudes. There is evidence that the great Bos primigenius, and the small Bos longifrons, which date, by fossils, from the time of the Mammoth, continued to exist in this island after it became inhabited by Man. The small short-horned pliocene Ox is most probably still preserved in the mountain varieties of our domestic cattle. The great Urus seems never to have been tamed ;” note this; “ but to have been finally extirpated in Scotland. Of the Cervine tribe, the Red-deer and the Roe-buck still exist in the mountainous districts of the north ; but, like the Aurochs in Lithuania, by grace of special protective laws.”— British Fossil Mammals and Birds, Introduction, p. xxxii. But if our domestic Fowls were thus early called into existence, where are their fossil remains to be found 2 The probabilities are against our finding them at all. We can hardly expect them in any oceanic deposit; and “ extremely rare,” says Professor Owen, “ are the remains of birds in the fresh-water deposits, or marine drift of the newer pliocene period, which so abound in Mamma- lian fossils. The light bodies of birds float long on the surface after death; and for one bird that becomes imbedded in the sediment at the bottom, perhaps ninety- nine are devoured before decomposition has sufficiently advanced to allow the skeleton to sink.”—Jd. p. 557. It would probably be in their supposed original Asiatic home that any successful search would be made ; but we ought not to be disappointed if none are discovered even THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 181 there. Dr. Buckland, in his Reliquie Diluciane, men- tions twenty-two localities of the remains of antediluvian animals, and in only three of them are relics of Birds - found. It certainly has long been thought that our domesticated creatures, beasts as well as birds, must necessarily be descended from some wild stock, which still exists in an untamed state. This petitio principii, this begging of the point at issue, has unquestionably led to wrong conclu- Sions, and left a host of naturalists, particularly cecono- mical writers, planted in the midst of difficulties which are still unexplained. Where is the wild origin of the sheep, or of the goat, to be found ? Some say here, some say there, some fix on this species, some on that, and the reader ends by “giving it up.” But take the simple theory that many of our domestic animals are the sur- vivors of extinct races, survivors because domesticable, of extirpated, because defenceless creatures, and the diffi- culties vanish, and become reconcileable with what we see around us. All those species which have of late become, or are likely soon to become extinct, disappear because they refuse to be subjugated by man ; for example, the yet untamed Aurochs of Lithuania, which still © survives only by virtue of strict protective laws enforced by the Emperor of Russia, and which has had all the time from the epoch of living Mammoths to the present day to ecome softened in disposition, but still refuses to hear the voice of the charmer. In some few sad instances, prin- Cipally of birds, the work of extermination appears to have been completed before any fair experiment had been tried, as with the Dodo and the Kivi Kivi. Other species, on the contrary, as the Turkey, will probably long survive the utter disappearance of their wild progenitors, solely on account of having submitted with a good grace to the dominion of Man. One of these, the Cereopsis, seems likely to owe its rescue to the happy exertions of the Zoological Society, which thus becomes an ark of refuge amidst the flood of population. 182 THE DOMESTIC FOWL. It is advisable to strengthen views of the history of our domesticated animals, so novel to most readers, by undis- puted authority, and I therefore again quote the words of the great Comparative Anatomist. “ My esteemed friend, Professor Bell, who has written the ‘ History of Existing British Quadrupeds,’ is disposed to believe, with Cuvier and most other naturalists, that our domestic cattle are the degenerate descendants of the great Urus. But it seems to me more probable that the herds of the newly-conquered regions would be derived from the already domesticated cattle of the