The Wild Goose. 387 



and even the very pen I hold in my hand was plucked 

 from her wing. 



These birds are kept in vast quantities in the fens 

 of Lincolnshire ; several persons there having as many 

 as a thousand breeders. They breed in general only 

 once a year, but if well kept they sometimes hatch 

 twice in a season. During their sitting, the birds have 

 spaces allotted to each, in rows of wicker pens placed 

 one above another ; and the Goose-herd, who has the 

 care of them, drives the whole flock to water twice a 

 day, and bringing them back to their habitations, places 

 every bird (without missing one) in its own nest. It is 

 scarcely credible what numbers of Geese are driven 

 from the distant counties to London for sale, frequently 

 two or three thousand in a drove; and, in the year 1783, 

 one drove passed through Chelmsford, in its way from 

 Suffolk to London, that contained more than nine thou- 

 sand. However simple in appearance or awkward in 

 gesture the Goose may be, it is not without many marks 

 of sentiment and understanding. The courage with 

 which it protects its offspring and defends itself against 

 ravenous birds, and certain instances of attachment, and 

 even of gratitude, which have been observed in it, ren- 

 der our general contempt of the Goose ill-founded. 



The Goose was held in great veneration among the 

 Kouians, as having by her watchfulness saved the 

 Capitol from the attack of the Gauls. Virgil says, in 

 the seventh book of the ^Eneid, 



" The silver goose before the shining gate 

 There flew, and by her cackle saved the state." 



DKYDEN. 



The colour of this useful bird is generally white; 

 though we often find them of a mixture of white, grey 

 black, and sometimes yellow. The feet which are pal- 

 mated, are orange-coloured, and the beak is serrated. 

 The male of the Goose is called the Gander ; and the 

 young ones Goslings. Geese are very long-lived, one is 

 known to have lived above seventy years. 



The Wild Goose is the original of the tame one, and 

 differs much in colour from her, the general tint of its 

 feathers being a greyish black. Wild Geese fly by night 



