THE GOOSE. 327 



acquire that delicate whiteness for which this magni- 

 ficent bird is so much admired. 



Ai\ the stages of this bird's approach to maturity 

 are slow, and seem indicative of its longevity. It is 

 two months in hatching : several months in acquiring 

 its colour, and a whole year in growing to its full 

 size. Willoughby seems to think the swan may live 

 three hundred years, but although this appears very 

 doubtful, if not absolutely incredible, ife is universally 

 allowed that it reaches the age of a hundred. 



THE GOOSE 



in its domestic state, is so universally known as to 

 preclude the necessity of any description. It exhi- 

 bits indeed a variety of colours, while the wild-goose> 

 which is considerably less in size, always retains the 

 same marks; the whole plumage of its upper parts 

 being of a dark ash-colour, and the breast and belly 

 of a dusky white. 



The wild-goose is supposed to breed in the north- 

 ern countries of Europe : in the beginning of the win- 

 ter it descends into more temperate climates. Wild- 

 geese are often seen flying, at a very great elevation, 

 in flocks of from fifty to a hundred together, disposed 

 in the most regular order, and generally forming ei- 

 ther a direct line, or two lines joining in an angle. 

 When they alight in the day time, which seldom 

 happens, they range themselves in a line, like cranes, 

 and seem to have descended rather for rest than for 

 feeding; for the latter business is chiefly performed 

 in the night. When they have sat in this manner 

 reposing themselves for,an hour or two, one of them 

 sounds a kind of charge, to which the whole flock 

 pay the strictest attention. Every goose is instantly 

 on the wing :. their ranks are immediately formed in 

 the air, and they pursue their route with renewed ala- 

 crity. This well-known bird admits of several varie- 

 ties, for besides the tame and the common wild-goose, 

 there is the bean-goose, a bird of passage, which ar- 

 rives in Lincolnshire in the autumn, and de-parts in 

 the month of May. This bird resembles the wild- 

 goose in colour, and weighs about six pounds. 



