Chinese Goose

Chinese Goose 

(Cygnopsis cygnoides), a bird of the order Anseriformes. The Chinese goose is 80 to 93 cm long and weighs as much as 4.5 kg. The bill is flat, with a slight bulge; the base is bordered with white. The crown and hindneck are rusty brown, and the back is dull brownish.

The Chinese goose is distributed in northern Mongolia, in Northeast China, and, in the USSR, in southern Siberia from Lake Zaisan and the Altai to Sakhalin. It winters in North China. It arrives at its breeding grounds in early April and settles in pairs along the banks of rivers and shores of lakes, both open and reedgrown; in mountains it occurs to an elevation of 2,400 m. A clutch contains six to eight eggs; the incubation period is approximately one month. The Chinese goose, everywhere much reduced in numbers, is of no commercial value. It is the ancestor of the Chinese breed of domestic goose.