LG GREY-LAG GOOSE. 
blind woman, who probably might have been in the habit of 
feeding it, used to be led every Sunday to church by a Gander 
taking hold of her gown with his bill. When she had seated 
herself, it retired to graze in the churchyard till she came 
out again, when it led her home. One day, the clergyman 
called at her house, and expressing his surprise to her daughter 
that her mother should venture abroad; she replied, ‘Oh, 
sir! we are not afraid of trusting her out of sight, for the 
Gander is with her’’ 
The Bishop continues, ‘We frankly own that so strange and 
improbable do the above stories appear, that we should neither 
have inserted nor paid the slightest attention to them, had 
we not the following testimony to their credibility, for the 
accuracy of which we can readily vouch; and deeply do we 
regret that a better fate did not await so extraordinary a bird, 
which under more intelligent observers might have afforded 
opportunities of ascertaining the extent of so unusual a 
development of affection. 
A farmer in Cheshire possessed a flock of Geese, one of 
which, at the end of about three years, without any apparent 
cause, began to shew a peculiar partiality for its master. It 
first appeared on the bird’s quitting its companions in the 
barn-yard or pond, and stalking after him. These symptoms 
became daily stronger, and in a short time wherever the 
farmer went, whether to the mill, or the blacksmith’s shop, 
or through the bustling streets of a neighbouring manufacturing 
town, the Goose was at his heels. So perseveringly did it 
follow his steps that if he wished to go out alone, he was 
under the necessity of fastening up the bird. 
The farmer was in the habit of holding his own plough, 
and on these occasions, the Goose as regularly passed the 
day in the ploughing field, walking sedately, not with the 
usual waddling pace of its fellow-geese, but with a firm step, 
head elevated, and neck erect, a short way before him in 
the line of the furrows, frequently turning round and fixing 
its eyes intently upon him. When the length of one furrow 
was accomplished, and the plough turned, the Goose, without 
losing its step, adroitly wheeled about, and thus continued 
its attendance till the evening, and then followed its master 
home; and, if permitted, would mount upon his lap as he 
sat by the fire after dark, shewing the strongest signs of 
affection, and nestling its head in his bosom, and preening 
the hair of his head with its beak, as it was wont to do 
