GEESE. 3?9 



of self-preservation, for, as it has been well observed, 

 YOU may drive over cat, dog, hen, pig, or even pigeon, 

 but few, if any, can record an instance of driving over a 

 tame Goose; and as for Wild Geese, there are no animals, 

 biped or quadruped, so difficult to deceive or approach, 

 their sense of hearing, seeing, and smelling, being so 

 extremely acute; independently of which, they appear 

 to act in so organized and cautious a manner, when 

 feeding or roosting, as to defy all danger. Sportsmen 

 could give instances without number of their utmost 

 skill being of no avail in attempting to approach these 

 birds; either a careless step on a piece of gravel, or an 

 eddy of wind, however light, or letting them perceive 

 the smallest portion of their persons, has rendered use- 

 less whole hours of manoeuvring. 



We shall briefly illustrate this part of our history, 

 alluding to their instinct and affection, by examples 

 drawn from various sources, ancient as well as modern, 

 corroborating them with a case which occurred in our 

 own neighbourhood. 



We have just mentioned that this bird was held sacred 

 to Juno, and we have good reason for supposing, that by 

 the Gauls, an ancient and barbarous people, inhabiting 

 the northern and western parts of Europe, it was held in 

 almost equal estimation. How long this continued we 

 do not know; but, at the time of the Crusades, that 

 famous expedition undertaken by our ancestors in the 

 reign of Henry the Second, about six hundred and fifty 

 years ago, a Goose was carried as a standard at the head 

 of one of those irregular bands proceeding from Europe 

 to Asia, with the design of rescuing the city of Jerusalem 

 from the hands of the Saracens. Of its attachment to the 

 human race, Pliny, an ancient Roman writer, gives several 

 instances ; one only we select, as closely resembling that 

 with which we shall conclude. A person named Lacydes, 

 a philosopher, had a Goose which took so strong a fancy 

 to him, that it would never willingly leave him by night or 

 day, wherever he went, the Goose was his companion; 



