200 BIRDS AND MAN 



probably experienced the same rude treatment 

 on many previous occasions. Drawing up to the 

 gate again he called more loudly than before ; then 

 deliberately lifted a leg, and placing his broad 

 webbed foot like an open hand against the gate 

 actually tried to push it open ! His strength was 

 not sufficient ; but he continued to push and to 

 call until the man returned to open the gate and 

 let the birds go in. 



It was an amusing scene, and the behaviour of 

 the bird struck me as characteristic. It was this 

 lofty spirit of the goose and strict adhesion to his 

 rights, as well as his noble appearance and the 

 stately formality and deliberation of his conduct, 

 that caused me very long ago to respect and 

 admire him above all our domestic birds. Doubtless 

 from the aesthetic point of view other domesticated 

 species are his superiors in some things : the mute 

 swan, " floating double," graceful and majestical, 

 with arched neck and ruffled scapulars ; the oriental 

 pea-fowl in his glittering mantle ; the helmeted 

 guinea-fowl, powdered with stars, and the red cock 

 with his military bearing — a shining Elizabethan 

 knight of the feathered world, singer, lover, and 

 fighter. It is hardly to be doubted that, mentally, 

 the goose is above all these ; and to my mind his, 



