THE WILD GOOSE. 401 



they do between their garden and their farm. The garden 

 goes without a spadeful of manure from one end of a seven 

 years' lease to another ; the turnip-field is glutted with guano 

 and all sorts of good things. And so, exotic birds, procured 

 at considerable expense, or received as highly valued presents 

 from friends, are turned out in a grassy wilderness, to shift 

 for themselves as best they may, while the Turkeys and Gos- 

 lings are taken as much care of as their master's children. To 

 a late inquiry after the fate of a pair sent to a distance, I got 

 for answer, "One flew away, and the other the Swan killed." 

 The growing Canada Geese must sensibly miss the abundance 

 of their native breeding-places, when confined to these short 

 commons; and it is not Justin us, after such neglect and 

 penuriousness on our part, to complain that they neither fat 

 well nor reproduce at an early age. 



From each pair of Geese, properly looked after, between six 

 and nine Goslings may fairly be calculated upon; which, 

 killed in the autumn, when really plump, would be very ac- 

 ceptable at home, or, as presents to unprejudiced persons. 

 Managed thus, they would be little, or, according to Audubon, 

 not at all inferior to a fatted Cygnet. And their picturesque 

 effect, as accessaries in landscape gardening, would surely be 

 greater in distinct uniformly tinted groups, moving here and 

 there across the scene with a decided object, namely, the con- 

 ducting of their young, than as a motley crowd of diversely- 

 coloured, variously-shaped creatures, huddled together in 

 unmeaning confusion. The woodland-park should be stocked 

 on different principles to the aviary and the menagerie. Thus 

 it is as a spot of pure white that the Swan gives such a spark- 

 ling brilliancy to the picture ; and the point of deepest shade 

 (an adjunct of no less importance to the painter) may be made 

 more intense and effective by the judicious employment of the 

 Canada Goose. 



When a pair are received from a distance, the best way of 



34* 



