216 



BIRDS AND MAN 



Since this appreciation was written a good many 

 years ago I have seen much of geese, or, as it might 

 be put, have continued my relations with them and 

 have written about them too in my Adventures 

 among Birds (1913). In recent years it has be- 

 come a custom of mine to frequent Wells-next -the- 

 Sea in October and November just to welcome the 

 wild geese that come in numbers annually to winter 

 at that favoured spot. Among the incidents re- 

 lated in that last book of mine about the wild geese, 

 there were two or three about the bird's noble and 

 dignified bearing and its extraordinary intelligence, 

 and I wish here to return to that subject just to 

 tell yet one more goose story : only in this instance 

 it was about the domestic bird. 



It happened that among the numerous letters I 

 received from readers of Birds and Man on its first 

 appearance there was one which particularly in- 

 terested me, from an old gentleman, a retired 

 schoolmaster in the cathedral city of Wells. He 

 was a delightful letter-writer, but by-and-bye our 

 correspondence ceased and I heard no more of him 

 for three or four years. Then I was at Wells, 

 spending a few days looking up and inquiring after 

 old friends in the place, and remembering my 

 pleasant letter-writer I went to call on him. Dur- 



