248 REPTILES AND BIRDS, 
man, after mixing with the crowd which was moving about the town 
he resided in, went into a barber’s shop to get shaved. ‘The faithful 
bird had followed him, and waited at the door until his master came 
out, in order to attend him in his subsequent movements, and then 
accompanied him back to his home. This intelligent creature could 
recognise its master’s voice, although clothed in any disguise. 
In Germany a gander was in the habit of leading an old blind 
woman to church every Sunday. It guided her by the skirt of her 
dress, always conducting her to the seat in the church which she 
usually occupied, Afterwards it returned into the churchyard to 
— =— 
Fig. 91.—Canada Goose. 
browse upon the grass. When the service was over, it waited, just 
like a faithful dog, to take charge of its mistress. One day, when the 
minister called upon her and found her from home, he expressed his 
astonishment that the poor blind woman should venture out alone. 
“Ah, sir,” replied her daughter, ‘we have no fears about her—the 
gander is with her.” Our blind people would make their fortune if 
they could replace their traditional dog by a guide of this novel kind. 
The Bean Goose (Anas segetum) of most authors differs from the 
preceding in being somewhat smaller, and having the bill more 
slender, although not much shorter ; the hind part ot the back is also 
dark brown. {In its habits it closely resembles the Grey-lag Goose, 
for which it has probably been frequently mistaken. Vast flocks of 
this species frequent the northern waters, such as Montrose Bay, the 
mouth of the Findhorn, and especially the inland waters of Ross 
