208 BIRDS AND MAN 



kind to be seen in any Court in Europe or the 

 world. 



The birds he had described, I told him, were no 

 doubt Upland Geese. 



" Geese ! " he exclaimed, in a tone of surprise, 

 and disgust. " Are you speaking seriously ? 

 Geese ! Oh, no, nothing like geese — a sort of 

 ostrich ! " 



It was plain that he had no accurate knowledge 

 of birds ; if he had caught sight of a kingfisher or 

 green woodpecker, he would probably have de- 

 scribed it as a sort of peacock. Of the goose, he 

 only knew that it is a ridiculous, awkward creature, 

 proverbial for its stupidity, although very good to 

 eat ; and it wounded him to find that any one 

 could think so meanly of his intelligence and taste 

 as to imagine him capable of greatly admiring any 

 bird called a goose, or any bird in any way related 

 to a goose. 



I will now leave the subject of the beautiful 

 antarctic goose, the " bustard " of the horsemen 

 of the pampas, and " sort of ostrich " of our 

 Londoner, to relate a memory of my early years, 

 and of how I first became an admirer of the familiar 

 domestic goose. Never since have I looked on it 

 in such favourable conditions. 



