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GOOSE.

THERE are several species of goose, from one of which
our domestic bird is derived. The weight of the wild
goose is eight or nine pounds, and the length about two
feet nine inches. ‘The bill is large and elevated, of a
very pale pink colour; the eye, greyish; the head and
neck, ash-colour, mixed with rust-colour; the back, dusky
grey; the breast, dull white, clouded with ash-colour.
The wing coverts are of different shades of ash-colour;
the tail feathers dusky, tipped with white; the legs very
pale pink; the claws black.

The wild goose is widely and numerously spread ‘over
all the more northerly parts of the globe, whence some
flocks of them migrate a long way southward in the
winter. These birds are often seen, in flocks of fifty
or a hundred, fiving at ‘very great heights, and pre-
serving very great regularity in their motions; sometimes
forming a straight line, and at others assuming the
shape of a wedge, which is supposed to facilitate their
progress. Their cry is frequently beard when they are
at a very great distance above us. When on the ground,
they range themselves in a line, after the manner of
cranes; and seem to have descended rather for the sake
of rest than for food. Having continued in this situation
for an hour two, one of them, with a long loud note,
sounds a kind of -signal, to which the rest punctually
attend, and rising in a group, they pursue their journey
with renewed alacrity.

Mr. Rennie relates the following of two birds of this
genus:—‘“In the “Environs of London,” by Mr. Lysons,