Weight.—The standard weight of the adult gander is 16 pounds; adult goose, 14 pounds; young gander, 12 pounds, and young goose, 10 pounds.
COLORED EGYPTIAN GEESE.
History.—The most beautiful of the breeds of geese are the colored Egyptians ([fig. 34]); they are purely ornamental, not having been bred in this country for any other purpose than the showroom. They are sometimes called the Nile Goose. This goose is tall and somewhat slender, which gives it an elegance of appearance not possessed by any other breed. It can generally be bred in confinement, but is of a most quarrelsome nature, and the male will fight to the death other males of the same species. The males must each be given a separate pen, and mated with the females; it is seldom that any two males can be kept in the same pen.
Description.—These geese have a medium-sized and rather long head, a bill of medium length, and a rather small neck. The back is narrow and slightly arched from the neck to the tail; breast, round; body, long, but somewhat small and slender. Their wings are large, and have instead of the ordinary hard knobs horny spurs about five-eighths of an inch long; the thighs are of medium length, and the shanks rather long. The color of the head is black and gray; the bill is purple or bluish red, and the eyes orange.
Fig. 34.—Pair of Colored Egyptian geese.
The neck and back are gray and black; the center of the breast is chestnut, and the balance is gray. The upper parts of the plumage of the body are gray and black, and the under parts are a pale yellow, penciled with black. The shoulders of the wings are white, with a narrow black stripe or bar. The tail feathers are glossy black; thighs, pale buff; shanks, toes, and webs, reddish yellow. The eyes are orange.
Weight.—The standard weight of the adult gander is 15 pounds; adult goose, 12 pounds; young gander, 12 pounds, and young goose, 9 pounds.