STORIES ABOUT BIRDS. 29 





VERY body knows that the goose has 

 been set down as an uncommonly 

 stupid bird. There may be some reason 

 for the general opinion. I never thought 

 the race to which he belongs very re- 

 markable for their intelligence. To tell the 

 honest truth, when I have seen a flock of these 

 fowls running toward some supposed enemy — a 

 horse or a dog for instance — stretching out their 

 long necks to their utmost limit, and hissing 

 with all their might, so as to scare the foe, and 

 indace him to take to his heels, — when I have 

 seen all this, I have laughed a little at their 

 stupidity. But I rather suspect that the family 

 have been slandered a little. I cannot quite be- 

 lieve that a goose, in going through a barn-door, 

 under the great beam, which is high enough 

 to admit a load of hay, will uniformly stoop 



3* 



