. Wright's book of poultry, revised and edited in accordance with the latest poultry club standards. con-formation, two geese to one gander generally dobetter than three in this variety. As it does notsit, or at least not with any steadiness, the eggsmust be hatched otherwise; and, owing to thegreater number laid, a larger flock can bereared from one pen of Greys than from oneof Embdens. The ordinary saddle-backed geese 592 THE BOOK OF POULTRY. of farm-yaids are generally descended from half-bred stock, and some of them are very fine. The Chinese or African goose (Ansercygnoides) has also been
. Wright's book of poultry, revised and edited in accordance with the latest poultry club standards. con-formation, two geese to one gander generally dobetter than three in this variety. As it does notsit, or at least not with any steadiness, the eggsmust be hatched otherwise; and, owing to thegreater number laid, a larger flock can bereared from one pen of Greys than from oneof Embdens. The ordinary saddle-backed geese 592 THE BOOK OF POULTRY. of farm-yaids are generally descended from half-bred stock, and some of them are very fine. The Chinese or African goose (Ansercygnoides) has also been termed the Hong Konggoose and Knobbed goose, and some birds have been written of as Spanish geese,The Chinese which appear to have had theor African same general characteristics. It was classed by Cuvier actually with theswans, which it resembles in the longer and moreslender neck, and the knobbed bill, also in theneck feathers being smooth and not curled asin the two preceding varieties; and it has beenrecorded on two or three occasions (on ratherdoubtful authority, but the gander is such an r. African Geese. ardent breeder that it is not unlikely) to haveproduced swan hybrids. But that it is a truegoose is proved by not only its domestic habitsand prolificacy, and the number of its vertebras(sixteen), but by the fact that it breeds freelywith other geese, and that the produce is fertileand not a hybrid ; the common goose of Indiabeing, as Mr. Blyth pointed out long ago, a crossbetween the Chinese and the ordinary domesticrace known to us. This immemorial crossing, inIndia and elsewhere, is the explanation of differ-ences that seem to have puzzled some writers inAmerica, between the African goose as thereknown, and their smaller Chinese. The original Chinese variety ranges over allChina, much of Siberia, and most of India, butchiefly northern India. In size it is midwaybetween the wild goose and the swan, but con- siderably less than our large domestic neck is long
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