These birds are to be found in most aviaries in Europe, but as an instance of their most successful rearing, Mr. Gould gives us the following account of some of them kept on the Wandle, at Carshalton, Surrey, by Mr. S. Gurney:--"They were purchased from Baker, Leadenhall Market, in 1851, but did not breed till 1854, when they laid their first egg on January 1. It was a most severe winter, snow on the ground, and intense frost nearly the whole time they were sitting. They hatched their young during the greatest cold of that winter, from which they did not suffer, though they had no shelter of any kind, and their nest was fully exposed to the east wind. Out of the ninety-three young ones hatched by them up to the present year, 1862 (inclusive), about half that number have been reared. Some of them have died from disease, but most of them have been killed by the old ones dragging them about in the fields, when they have fallen into small holes on their backs, and have not been able to recover themselves. They have bred sixteen times in seven years, having laid 111 eggs." [Illustration: THE BLACK SWAN (_Cygnus_ or _Chenopsis atratus_). ONE-SIXTH NATURAL SIZE.] * * * * * The GEESE (_Anseres_) constitute a very numerous family, whose members are met with in all parts of the world. In these birds the body is compact, the neck short, and the head large; the legs are situated near the middle of the body. The beak, which nearly equals the head in length, and slopes gradually to its tip, is vaulted above and flat beneath, compressed at its sides, and terminated by a large broad nail; its margins are more or less denticulated, and its surface covered with a soft skin. The moderate-sized foot has its three anterior toes united by a large web, and armed with stout, strong, flatly-curved claws. In the large, broad, pointed wing the second quill is longer than the rest, and the upper secondaries are less developed than in the Swan; the wrist-joint exhibits a hard knob, which in some species assumes the form of a powerful spur. The short tail is composed of from fourteen to twenty feathers, and is either broadly rounded or straight at its extremity. The plumage is very similarly coloured in both sexes, but varies considerably in different groups; the young when one year old resemble their parents. Every division of the world has its own appropriate species of Geese. In Europe, and in Asia, many different kinds are to be met with in almost equal abundance, and in high northern latitudes many are common to the eastern and western hemispheres. Towards the south, however, the habitat of the different races is more sharply defined. The Geese are less exclusively aquatic than any other _Lamellirostres_; indeed, some of them pass the greater part of their lives on dry land, and a few might almost be called arboreal in their habits, seeing that they not only resort to and roost upon trees, but build their nests among the branches.