60 KNOWING BIRDS THROUGH STORIES 



what abated, and he decided it was time to hie away to 

 the northern breeding grounds, two eggs had already been 

 laid in this nest, and of course no mother would leave her 

 prospective family, so this pair stayed. When there were 

 six eggs in the nest, the boy told his secret to his mother, 

 who promptly removed them and placed them under a 

 sitting hen in the chicken house. Realizing at last that 

 a mistake had been made, the pair of geese followed the 

 call of the north, and built their second nest on the banks 

 of some lake in northern Minnesota or Southern Canada; 

 but the boy had their eggs and thirty days later they 

 hatched into six fuzzy brown goslings. For a day or two 

 these young goslings were exceedingly shy, but as the only 

 thing they ever received from the hands of man was plenty 

 of food and tender care, before long they were as tame as 

 any domestic goose could be expected to be. 



The summer passed uneventfully, four of the goslings 

 growing into adult geese. All fall and winter they were 

 contented to swim in the pond, or: to sit about the barn 

 lot eating corn from the crib and clover hay from the 

 stable; but when the call of the north brought the wild 

 geese honking northward the next spring, these geese 

 would answer every flock that passed over. One morning 

 in March three of these geese could stand it no longer, and 

 took wing and joined a flock that was passing over. Jimmy 

 by some mishap or good fortune, according to whose view- 

 point you take, happened to be in the corn crib at the 

 time, and the door had been blown shut. When he heard 

 the commotion and realized that his mates were leaving, 

 his loud cries of protest filled the air, for he wished to 

 go along. The boy, when he heard the unusual honking, 

 came out of the house just in time to see his pets depart- 



