The most important species of Goose, and the type of the genus Anser, is undoubtedly that which is the origin of our well-known domestic race, the Anser ferus or A. cinereus of most naturalists, commonly called in English the Grey or Grey Lag Goose, a bird of exceedingly wide range in the Old World, apparently breeding where suitable localities are to be found in most European countries from Lapland to Spain and Bulgaria. Eastwards it extends to China, but does not seem to be known in Japan. It is the only species indigenous to the British Islands, and in former days bred abundantly in the English Fen-country, where the young were caught in large numbers and kept in a more or less reclaimed condition with the vast flocks of tame-bred Geese that at one time formed so valuable a property to the dwellers in and around the Fens. It is impossible to determine when the wild Grey Lag Goose ceased from breeding in England, but it certainly did so towards the end of the last century, for Daniell mentions (Rural Sports, iii. p. 242) his having obtained two broods in one season. In Scotland this Goose continues to breed sparingly in several parts of the Highlands and in certain of the Hebrides, the nests being generally placed in long heather, and the eggs seldom exceeding five or six in number. It is most likely the birds reared here that are from time to time obtained in England, for at the present day the Grey Lag Goose, though once so numerous, is, and for many years has been, the rarest species of those that habitually resort to the British Islands. The domestication of this species, as Mr Darwin remarks (Animals and Plants under Domestication, i. p. 287), is doubtless of very ancient date, and yet scarcely any other animal that has been tamed for so long a period, and bred so largely in captivity, has varied so little. It has increased greatly in size and fecundity, but almost the only change in plumage is that tame Geese lose the browner and darker tints of the wild bird, and are invariably more or less marked with white—being often indeed wholly of that colour. The most generally recognized breeds of domestic Geese are those to which the distinctive names of Emden and Toulouse are applied; but a singular breed, said to have come from Sebastopol, was introduced into Western Europe about the year 1856. In this the scapulars are elongated, curled, and spirally twisted, having their shaft transparent, and so thin that it often splits into fine filaments, which, remaining free for an inch or more, often coalesce again.

The other British species of typical Geese are the Bean-' Goose (A, segetum), the Pink-footed (A. brachyrhynchus'), and the White-fronted (A. albifrons'). On the continent of Europe, but not yet recognized as occurring in Britain, is a small form of the last (A. erythropus) which is known to breed in Lapland. All these, for the sake of discrimination, may be divided into two groups—(1) those having the “nail” at the tip of the bill white, or of a very pale flesh colour, and (2) those in which this “nail” is black. To the former belong the Grey Lag Goose, as well as A. albifrons and A. erythropus, and to the latter the other two. A. albifrons and A. erythropus, which hardly differ but in size,—the last being not much bigger than a Mallard (Anas boschas),— may be readily distinguished from the Grey Lag Goose by their bright orange bill and legs, and their mousecoloured upper wing-coverts, to say nothing of their very conspicuous white face and the broad black bars which cross the belly, though the two last characters are occasionally observable to some extent in the Grey Lag Goose, which has the bill and legs flesh-coloured, and the upper wing-coverts of a bluish-grey. Of the second group, with the black “nail,” A. segetum has the bill long, black at the base and orange in the middle; the feet are also orange, and the upper wing-coverts mouse-coloured, as in A. albifrons and A. erythropus, while A. brachyrhynchus has the bill short, bright pink in the middle, and the feet also pink, the upper wing-coverts being nearly of the same bluish-grey as in the Grey Lag Goose. Eastern Asia possesses in A. grandis a third species of this group, which chiefly differs-from A. segetum in its larger size. In North America there is only one species of typical Goose, and that belongs to the white-“nailed” group. It very nearly resembles A. albifrons, but is larger, and has been described as distinct under the name of A. gambeli. Central Asia and India possess in the Bar-headed Goose (A. indicus') a bird easily distinguished from any of the foregoing by the character implied by its English name; but it is certainly somewhat abnormal, and, indeed, under the name of Eulabia, has been separated from the genus Anser, which has no other member indigenous to the Indian Region, nor any at all to the Ethiopian, Australian, or Neotropical Regions.

But the New World possesses by far the greatest wealth of Anserine forms. Beside others, presently to be mentioned, its northern portions are the home of all the speciesof Snow-Geese belonging to the genus Chen. It is true that two of these are reported as having appeared, and that not unfrequently, in Europe and Asia; but they possibly have been but stragglers from America. The first of these is C. hyperbοreus, the Snow-Goose proper, a bird of large size, and when adult of a pure white, except the primaries, which are black. This has long been deemed a visitor to· the Old World, and sometimes in considerable numbers, but the later discovery of a smaller form, C. albatus, scarcely differing except in size, throws some doubt on the older records, especially since examples which have recently been obtained in the British Islands undoubtedly belong to this lesser bird, aud it would be satisfactory to have the occurrence in the Old World of the true C. hyperboreus placed on a surer footing. So nearly allied to the species last named as to have been often confounded with it, is the Blue-winged Goose, C. coerulescens, which is said never to attain a snowy plumage. Then we have a very small species, long ago described as distinct by Hearne, the Arctic traveller, but until 1861 discredited by ornithologists. Its distinctness has now been fully recognized, and it has received, somewhat unjustly, the name of C. rossi. Its face is adorned with numerous papillae, whence it has been removed by Mr Elliot to a separate genus, Exanthemops, and for the same reason it has, for more than a century, been known to the European residents in the fur countries as the “Horned Wavey ”—the last word being a rendering of a native name, Jf r αwa, which signifies Goose. Finally, there appears to belong to this section, though it has been frequently referred to another (Chloep>haga), and has also been made the type of a distinct genus {Philαcte), the beautiful Painted Goose, C. canagica, which is almost peculiar to the Aleutian Islands, though straying to the continent in winter, and may be recognized by the white edging of its remiges.

The southern portions of the New World are inhabited by about half a dozen species of Geese, akin to the foregoing, but separated as the genus Ckloephaga. The most noticeable of them are the Rock or Kelp Goose, C. antarctica, and the Upland Goose, C. magellanica. In both of these the sexes are totally unlike in colour, the male being nearly white, while the female is of a mottled brown, but in others a greater similarity obtains. Very nearly allied to the birds of this group, if indeed that can be justifiably separated, comes one which belongs to the northern hemisphere, and is common to the Old World as well as the New. It contains the Geese which have received the common names of Bernacles or Brents, and the scientific appellations of Bernida and Branta— for the use of either of which much may be said by nomenclaturists. All the species of this section are distinguished by their general dark sooty colour, relieved in someby white of greater or less purity, and by way of distinction from the members of the genus Anser, which are known as Grey Geese, are frequently called by fowlers Black Geese. Of these, the best known both in Europe and North America is the Brent-Goose—the Λnas bernida of Linnaeus, and the B. torquata of many modern writers—a truly marine bird, seldom (in Europe at least) quitting saltwater, and coming southward in vast flocks towards autumn, frequenting bays and estuarie3 on our coasts, where it live3 chiefly on sea-grass (Zostera maritima). It is known to breed in Spitsbergen and in Greenland. A form which is by some ornithologists deemed a good species, and called by them B. nigricans, 0ccur3 chiefly on the Pacific coast of North America. In it the black of the neck, which in the common Brent terminates just above the breast, extends over most of the lower parts. The true Bernacle-Goose, the B. leucopsis of most authors, is but a casual visitor to

North America, but is said to breed in Iceland, and occasionally in Norway. Its usual incunabula, however, still form one of the puzzles of the ornithologist, and the difficulty is not lessened by the fact that it will breed freely in semi-captivity, while the Brent-Goose will not. From the latter the Bernacle-Goose is easily distinguished by its larger size and white cheeks. Hutchins’s Goose (77. Hutchinsi) seems to be its true representative in the New-World. In this the face is dark, but a white crescentic or triangular patch extends from the throat on either side upwards behind the eye. Almost exactly similar in coloration to the last, but greatly superior in size, and possessing 18 rectrices, while all the foregoing have but 16, is the common wild Goose of America, B. canadensis, which, for some two centuries or more, has been introduced into Europe, where it propagates so freely that it has been included by nearly all the ornithologists of this quarter of the globe, as a member of its fauna. An allied form, by some deemed a species, is B. leucopareia, which ranges over the western part of North America, and, though having 18 rectrices, is distinguished by a white collar round the lower part of the neck. The most diverse species of this group of Geese are the beautiful B. rufi collis, a native of Northeastern Asia, which occasionally strays to Western Europe, and has been obtained more than once in Britain, and that which is peculiar to the Hawaian archipelago, B. sandvi-censis.

The largest living Goose is that called the Chinese, Guinea, or Swan-Goose, Cygnopsis cygnoides, and it seems to be the stock whence the domestic Geese of several Eastern countries have sprung. It may not unfrequently be seen in English farmyards, and it is found to cross readily with our common tame Goose, the offspring being fertile, and Blyth has said that these crosses are very abundant in India. The true home of the species is in Eastern Siberia or Mongolia. It is distinguished by its upright bearing, which has been well rendered by Bewick’s excellent figure. The Ganders of the reclaimed form are distinguished by the knob at the base of the bill, but the evidence of many observers shows that this is not found in the wild race. Of this bird there is a perfectly white breed.

We have next to mention a very curious form, Cereop>sis novoe-hollandioe, which is peculiar to Australia, and appears to be a more terrestrial type of Goose than any other now existing. Its short, decurved bill and green cere give it a very peculiar expression, and its almost uniform grey plumage, bearing rounded black spots, 13 also remarkable. It bears captivity well, breeding in confinement, and may be seen in many parks and gardens. It appears to have been formerly very abundant in many parts of Australia, from which it has of late been exterminated. Some of its peculiarities seem to have been still more exaggerated in a bird that is wholly extinct, the Cnemiornis calcitrans of New Zealand, the remains of which were described in full by Professor Owen in 1873 (Trans. Zool. Society, ix. p. 253). Among the first portions of this singular bird that were found were the tibias, presenting an extraordinary development of the patella, which, united with the shankbone, gave rise to the generic name applied. For some time the affinity of the owner of this wonderful structure was in doubt, but all hesitation was dispelled by the discovery of a nearly perfect skeleton, now in the British Museum, which proved the bird to be a Goose, of great size, and unable, from the shortness of its wings, to fly.

Iu correlation with this loss of power may also be noted the dwindling of the keel of the sternum. Generally, however, its osteological characters point to an affinity to Cereopsis, as was noticed by Dr Hector (2⅛tns. New Zeal. Institute, vi. pp. 76-84), who first determined its Anserine character.

Birds of the genera Chenalopex (the Egyptian and Orinoco Geese), Plectropterus, Sarcidiomis, Chlamydochen, and some others, are commonly called Geese. To the writer it seems uncertain whether they should be grouped with the Anserinae. The males of all appear to have that curious enlargement at the junction of the bronchial tubes and the trachea which is so characteristic of the Ducks or Anatinae. As much may be said for the genus Nettαρus, but want of space precludes further consideration of the subject here. (a. n.)

The wild gooseberry is a small, straggling bush, nearly resembling the cultivated plant,—the branches being thickly set with sharp spines, standing out singly or in diverging tufts of two or three from the bases of the short spurs or lateral leaf shoots, on which the bell-shaped flowers are produced, singly or in pairs, from the groups of rounded, deeply-crenated 3 or 5-lobed leaves. The fruit is smaller than in the garden kinds, but is often of good flavour; it is generally hairy, but in one variety smooth, constituting the R. uva-crispa of writers; the colour is usually green, but plants are occasionally met with having deep purple berries. The gooseberry is indigenous to the central parts of Europe and western Asia, growing naturally in alpine thickets and rocky woods in the lower country, from France eastward, perhaps as far as the Himalaya. In Britain it is often found in copses and hedgerows and about old ruins, but has been so long a plant of cultivation that it is difficult to decide upon its claim to a place in the native flora of the island. Common as it is now on some of the lower slopes of the Alps of Piedmont and Savoy, it is uncertain whether the Romans were acquainted with the gooseberry, though it may possibly be alluded to in a vague passage of Pliny: the hot summers of Italy, in ancient times as at present, would be unfavourable to its cultivation. Abundant in Germany and France, it does not appear to have been much grown there· in the Middle Ages, though the wild fruit was held in some esteem medicinally for the cooling properties of its acid juice in fevers; while the old English name, Pea-berry, still surviving in some provincial dialects, indicates that it was similarly valued in Britain, where it was planted in gardens at a comparatively early period. Turner describes the gooseberry in his Herball, written about the middle of the 16th century, and a few years later it is mentioned in one of Tusser’s quaint rhymes as an ordinary object of garden culture. Improved varieties were probably first raised by the skilful gardeners of Holland, whose name for the fruit, Kruisbezie, may have been easily corrupted into the present English vernacular word. Towards the end of the last century the gooseberry became a favourite object of cottage-horticulture, especially in Lancashire, where the working cotton-spinners have raised numerous varieties from seed, their efforts having been chiefly directed to increasing the size of the fruit.

Of the many hundred sorts enumerated in recent horticultural works, few perhaps equal in flavour some of the older denizens of the fruit-garden, such as the “old rough red” and “hairy amber.” The climate of the British Islands seems peculiarly adapted to bring the gooseberry to perfection, and it may be grown successfully even in the most northern parts of Scotland; indeed, the flavour of the fruit is said to improve with increasing latitude. In Norway even, the bush flourishes, in gardens on the west coast, nearly up to the Arctic circle, and it is found wild as far north as 63°. The dry summers of the French and German plains are less suited to it, though it is grown in some hilly districts with tolerable success. The gooseberry in the south of England will grow well in cool situations, and may be sometimes seen in gardens near London flourishing under the partial shade of apple trees; but in the north it needs full exposure to the sun to bring the fruit to perfection. It will succeed in almost any soil, but prefers a rich loam or black alluvium, and, though naturally a plant of rather dry places, will do well in moist land, if drained.

The varieties are most easily propagated by cuttings planted in the autumn, which root rapidly, and in a few years form good fruit-bearing bushes. Much difference of opinion prevails regarding the mode of pruning this valuable shrub; it is probable that in different situations it may require varying treatment. The fruit being borne on the lateral spurs, and on the shoots of the last year, it is the usual practice to shorten the side branches in the winter, before the buds begin to expand; some reduce the longer leading shoots at the same time, while others prefer to nip off the ends of these in the summer while they are still succulent. When large fruit is desired, plenty of manure should be supplied to the roots, and the greater portion of the berries picked off while still small. Burbidge states that the gooseberry may be with advantage grafted or budded on stocks of some other species of Ribes, R. aureum, the ornamental golden currant of the flower garden, answering well for the purpose. The giant gooseberries of the Lancashire “fanciers” are obtained by the careful culture of varieties specially raised with this object, the growth being encouraged by abundant manuring, and the removal of all but a very few berries from each plant. Single gooseberries of nearly 2 ounces in weight have been occasionally exhibited; but the produce of such fanciful horticulture is generally insipid. The bushes at times suffer much from the ravages of the caterpillar of the gooseberry or magpie moth, Abraxas grossulariata, which often strip the branches of leaves in the early summer, if not destroyed before the mischief is accomplished. The most effectual way of getting rid of this pretty but destructive insect is to look over each bush carefully, and pick off the larvae byhand; when larger they may be shaken off by striking the branches, but by that time the harm is generally done— the eggs are laid on the leaves of the previous season. Equally annoying in some years is the smaller larva of the V-moth, Halias ναnaria, which often appears in great numbers, and is not so readily removed. The gooseberry is sometimes attacked by the grub of a fly, Nematus mbesii, of which several broods appear in the course of the spring and summer, and are very destructive. The grubs bury themselves in the ground to pass into the pupal state; the first brood of flies, hatched just as the bushes are coming into leaf in the spring, lay their eggs on the lower side of the leaves, where the small greenish larvae soon after emerge. For the destruction of the first broods it has been recommended to syringe the bushes with tarwater; perhaps a very weak solution of carbolic acid might prove more effective. The powdered root of white hellebore is said to destroy both this grub and the caterpillars of the gooseberry and V-moth; infusion of foxglove, and tobacco-water, are likewise tried by some growers. If the fallen leaves are carefully removed from the ground in the autumn and burnt, and the surface of the soil turned over with the fork or spade, most eggs and chrysalids will be destroyed.

The gooseberry was introduced into the United States by the early settlers, and in some parts of New England large quantities of the green fruit are produced and sold for culinary use in the towns; but the excessive heat of the American summer is not adapted for the healthy maturation of the berries, especially of the English varieties. Perhaps if some of these, or those raised in the country, could be crossed with one of the indigenous species, kinds might be obtained better fitted for American conditions of culture, although the gooseberry does not readily hybridize. The bushes are apt to be infested by a minute fly, known as the gooseberry midge, Cecidomyia grossularioe, which lays its eggs in the green fruit, in which the larvae are hatched, causing the berries to turn purple and fall prematurely. According to Mr Fitch, the midge attacks the wild native species as well as the cultivated gooseberry.

The gooseberry, when ripe, yields a fine wine by the fermentation of the juice with water and sugar, the resulting sparkling liquor retaining much of the flavour of the fruit. By similarly treating the juice of the green fruit, picked just before it ripens, an effervescing wine is produced, nearly resembling some kinds of champagne, and, when skilfully prepared, far superior to much of the liquor sold under that name. Brandy has been made from ripe gooseberries by distillation; by exposing the juice with sugar to the acetous fermentation a good vinegar may be obtained. The gooseberry, when perfectly ripe, contains a large quantity of sugar, most abundant in the red and amber varieties; in the former it amounts to from 6 to upwards of 8 per cent. The acidity of the fruit is chiefly due to malic acid.

Several other species of the sub-genus produce edible fruit, though none have as yet been brought under economic culture. Among them may be noticed R. oxyacanthoides and R. cynosbati, abundant in Canada and the northern parts of the United States, and R. gracile, common along the Alleghany range. The group is a widely distributed one, species occurring to the west of the Rocky Mountains, and in Siberia and Japan, while one is said to have been found by recent explorers on the lofty Kilimanjaro, near the lakesources of the Nile. (c. p. J.)