How I Became a Naturalist 55 



sails round him, uttering cooing notes of love ; while he, 

 to all appearances indifferent, acts the part of a coquette, 

 avoiding her advances. She redoubles her efforts, 

 swimming round him, and occasionally lowers herself 

 in the water until only the head and neck are visible. 

 Reciprocal feelings eventually being established, the pair 

 go through a series of seemingly concealed figures, ad- 

 vancing, retiring, bowing their heads, and uttering notes 

 of endearment. This is preliminary to the construction 

 of a nest, which is usually placed in the midst of a tuft 

 of rushes, in the hollow of an old tree stump, or occasion- 

 ally in a pollard tree, twenty or more feet from the ground 

 This is more especially the case when there are many 

 four-footed enemies about. The drake takes no part in 

 the nest-making ; all these duties are performed by his 

 mate. When the nest is finished, she lays from ten to 

 twenty eggs — usually about a dozen — and as soon as she 

 begins to sit, plucks the down from her breast to prevent 

 the eggs from getting cold while she is away from the nest, 

 which she never leaves until forced to do so by the pangs 

 of hunger. Even then she carefully conceals her treasures 

 by putting herbage over them, as she may have to fly 

 many miles in search of food. The drake does not assist 

 the incubation in any way. He goes to his club with 

 other drakes, only occasionally flying round overhead and 

 quacking. This seems to be done less with an idea 

 of cheering her long vigil than of assuring his anxious 

 mate that he is all right. After twenty-eight days' close 

 sitting, the brown, downy brood hatches out, delighting 

 the maternal heart. Strange to say, after all her 

 solicitude, she is strangely lacking in prudence. She 

 will march her brood over long distances, never looking 

 behind her, until some drop from exhaustion. Then 

 again, otters and pike devour them in the water, and 

 cats and other enemies on land ; indeed, it is a wonder 

 how any of them survive. 



The brent goose is the most common, and a general 

 object of interest to the fowler. He can easily be distin- 

 guished from other geese at a distance, the beak, head, 

 and neck, breast, tail, and feet being deep black. The 



