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Geese
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Cheeks, or lores, completely feathered where the swans are naked; tarsus, or lower part of leg, generally longer than the middle to without the nail; scales on its front rounded; these are the purely scientific distinctions of the birds of this subfamily. Neck is midway in length between that of the ducks and of the swans. Body is not so flat as the duck's and more elevated on the longer legs. Geese, that spend far more time on land, walk better than ducks, and depend altogether on a vegetable diet. When we see them tipping, with head immersed in the water and tail in air, they are probing the bottom for roots and seeds of plants, not for water insects or mollusks. In common with swans they resent intrusion by hissing with out-stretched necks and by striking with the wings. When wounded on the water, a goose dives; then, with only its bill exposed above the surface, strikes out for land, where it evidently feels more at home. The sexes are generally alike in plumage, which undergoes only one moult a year; and both parents attend to the young as no self-respecting drake would do. A wedge-shaped flock of migrating geese, with an old gander in the lead at the point of the V, old sportsmen say, is a familiar sight in the spring and autumn skies, that echo with the honk, honk, or noisy cacklings, coming from the distended necks of the travellers.
White-fronted Goose.
Snow Goose.
Lesser Snow Goose.
Canada, or Wild Goose.
Brant.
Black Brant.
Swans
(Subfamily Cygninoe)
Bare skin between the eye and bill is the scientific mark of distinction between swans and geese; many other points of difference are too well known to mention. Swans feed on small mollusks in addition to vegetable matter which they secure by "tipping" or by simply immersing their long, graceful necks. They migrate in V-shaped flocks like the geese, and often utter loud, trumpeting notes unlike the noisy gabble of both geese and ducks. Plumage of sexes alike.
Whistling Swan.
Trumpeter Swan.
MERGANSERS, OR FISHING DUCKS
(Subfamily Merginoe)