206 BIRDS AND MAN 



whistle of the male, steady or tremulous, now long 

 and now short, modulated a hundred ways — wilder 

 and more beautiful than the night-cry of the widgeon, 

 brighter than the voice of any shore bird, or any 

 warbler, thrush or wren, or the sound of any wind 

 instrument. 



It is probable that those who have never known 

 the Magellanic goose in a state of nature are best 

 able to appreciate its fine qualities in its present 

 semi- domestic state in England. At all events 

 the enthusiasm with which a Londoner spoke of this 

 bird in my presence some time ago came to me rather 

 as a surprise. It was at the studio in St John's 

 Wood of our greatest animal painter, one Sunday 

 evening, and the talk was partly about birds, 

 when an elderly gentleman said that he was pleased 

 to meet some one who would be able to tell him 

 the name of a wonderful bird he had lately seen in 

 St James's Park. His description was vague ; he 

 could not say what its colour was, nor what sort of 

 beak it had, nor whether its feet were webbed or 

 not ; but it was a large tall bird, and there were 

 two of them. It was the way this bird had com- 

 ported itself towards him that had so taken him. 

 As he went through the park at the side of the en- 

 closure, he caught sight of the pair some distance 



