Goose

Goose, any bird of the genus Anser, of the Duck family (Anatidce), ranging over the Palsearctic and Nearctic regions to Central America and the

Antilles. The body is compact, and the legs are set nearly in the centre, so that these birds can walk fairly well on land; the neck is short, and the head large; the upper mandible is vaulted and terminated by a broad nail, and the lower mandible is flat beneath. The plates at the margins of the bill are modified into tooth-like processes, well adapted for cropping the vegetation which forms the principal food of these birds. There are three toes in front, all united by a membrane; the hinder toe is free. On the wrist joint (that is, at the bend of the wing) is a hard knob, which in the Spur-winged Goose (Plectropterus gambensis), from Central and South Africa, is developed into a spur. Geese are far less aquatic than ducks, and though tbey swim well they rarely dive, and great part of their life is spent on dry land. The Common Goose was domesticated at a very early period, and has run into many varieties, of which the Toulouse Geese are the largest. The plumage of the adult bird is white; newly-hatched goslings are covered with greyish down, and the young birds retain some dark patches. Economically the goose is of great importance for the table, for its soft feathers, and, to a less degree than formerly, for its quills, which are still made into pens, and which, like the feathers, are plucked from the living birds. Large herds of geese are kept in Lincolnshire, Norfolk, and Suffolk to supply the London markets. The famous Strasburg pates are made from goose-livers abnormally enlarged by keeping the birds without water in a place where the temperature is very high. Four species of wild geese are British visitors, but of these only one - the Grey Lag Goose (A. einereus) - stays to breed, though it was common in the Fen country before that district was drained. This bird, from which the domestic goose is probably derived, is about 35 inches long, greyish-brown above, and white with dark markings beneath; the female is smaller. The Laughing or White-fronted Goose (A. albifrons), with brown plumage, is much smaller. In these two species the nail at the end of the bill is white, while in the other two - the Bean Goose (A. segetum) and the Pink-footed Goose (A. brachyrhynehus)- it is black. [Barn acle Goose, Brent Goose, Cereopsis, Duck, Swan.]