Greylag Goose Origin Of Name Domestic Geese Reference

The Greylag Goose (Anser anser) is 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 JapanJapan (, Nippon/Nihon literally "the origin of the sun") is a country in East Asia situated on a chain of islands east of the Asian continent on the western edge of the Pacific Ocean. The largest of these islands are, from north to south, Hokkaido , Honsh. It is the type speciesThis article discusses biological species. Also see combinatorial species for the mathematical meaning of the term. Species is also a movie by Roger Donaldson. In English "species" is both singular and plural. The word " specie" is unrelated and is used t of the genusSee genus (mathematics) for the use of the term in mathematics. See genus (music) for the use of the term in music. In biology, a genus (plural genera is a grouping in the classification of living organisms having one or more related and morphologically s Anser. It was known as Wild Goose (Anser ferus).

It is the only species indigenous to the British IslandsUnder the Interpretation Act 1978 of the United Kingdom , the term British Islands refers to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, together the Crown Dependencies: the Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey (which in turn includes the, 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 FensThe Fens may also refer to the Back Bay Fens, park in Boston, Massachusetts. The Fens are an area of wetlands in the counties of Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire and Norfolk in England, west and south of The Wash. They now cover approximately 1,300 km² (320,0.

The Greylag is a large gooseAnser Branta Chen Cereopsis † see also: Swan, Duck Anatidae Goose (plural geese is the general English name for a considerable number of birds, belonging to the family Anatidae. This family also includes the swans, which are mostly larger than gees, with a large head and almost triangular pink or orange-pink bill. The legs are pink, and the bird is easily identified in flight by the pale leading edge to the wing.

It is impossible to determine when the wild Greylag Goose ceased breeding in England, but it certainly did so towards the end of the 18th century, for Daniell mentions (Rural Sports, iii. 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 wild Greylag Goose, though once so numerous, is, and for many years has been, rare in British Islands. Greylags have been reintroduced in many areas of the UK and numbers have increased significantly, however the flocks tend to be semi-tame in these areas. Flocks of Greylags are often mixed with Canada GeeseCanada Goose : Animalia : Chordata : Aves : Anseriformes : Anatidae Branta canadensis Binomial name Branta canadensis Linnaeus, 1758) The Canada Goose Branta canadensis , colloquially Canadian Goose belongs to the Branta genus of geese, which contains spe and the two species may interbreed at times.

1 Origin of Name

The meaning and derivation of this word "lag" had long been a puzzle until Skeat suggested (Ibis, 1870, p. 301) that it signified late, last, or slow, as in laggard, a loiterer, lagman, the last man, lagteeth, the posterior molar or "wisdom" teeth (as the last to appear), and lagclock, a clock that is behind time.

Thus the Greylag Goose is the grey goose which in England, when the name was given, was not migratory but lagged behind the other wild species at the season when they betook themselves to their northern breeding quarters. In connection with this word, however, must be noticed the curious fact mentioned by Rowley (Orn. Miscell., iii. 213), that the flocks of tame geese in Lincolnshire are urged on by their drivers with the cry of "Lag'em, lag'em."

2 Domestic Geese

The Greylag is the most economically important species of goose, as the origin of the well-known domestic race (see poultry).

The domestication of this species, as Charles Darwin remarks (Animals and Plants under Domestication, i. 287), is 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 commonly lose the browner and darker tints of the wild bird, and are more or less marked with white - being often wholly of that colour.

From the times of the Romans white geese have been held in great estimation, and hence, doubtless, they have been preferred as breeding stock.

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 Sevastopol, was introduced into western Europe about the year 1856. In this the upper plumage is 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; while the quills are aborted, so that the birds cannot fly.

3 Reference

Initial version based on an article from 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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1 Origin of Name

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