450 THE BERNICLE GOOSE. 



delivered. Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for 

 you; even as the green herb have I given you all things." 



The Bernicle Goose is one of those species in which the 

 impulse of reproduction has at length overcome the sullenness 

 of captivity; and it is a curious fact, that instances of their 

 breeding have of late increased in frequency, and we may 

 therefore hope will go on increasing. The young so reared 

 should be pinioned at the wrist, as a precaution. The proba- 

 bility is, that they would stay at home contentedly, unpinioned, 

 till hard weather came, when they would be tempted to leave 

 their usual haunts in search of marshes, unfrozen springs, mud 

 banks left by the tide, and the open sea, where they would be 

 liable to be shot by sporting naturalists a fate which has 

 done more than any thing else to check the propagation of 

 interesting birds in England or might be induced to join a 

 flock of wild birds, instead of returning to their former quarters. 



Here is a warning example. The pinioning of a brood of 

 Egyptian Geese had been delayed too long; they could fly, 

 and though they came to be fed as usual, would not suffer 

 themselves to be caught. In the winter, during a hard frost, 

 they flew down to the marshes a few miles distant. Their 

 keeper happened to be on the road thither, and seeing them 

 in the air overhead, called to them as usual. They knew his 

 voice, wheeled about, hovered for a moment, and then pursued 

 their course. Shortly afterwards, they were shot by mistake 

 for wild birds, by a person who must have been aware that 

 there was a collection of water-fowl in the neighbourhood ; in 

 which, however, there are now only male Egyptian Geese, the 

 mother of the brood having suffered the same fate. Similar 

 unfortunate mistakes are frequent. Does the paragraph in the 

 local newspaper about the "rare bird" shot by so and so, 

 esquire, and the stuffed specimen in the smart glass case, com- 

 pensate for the slaughter ? 



Broods of five, six, and seven Bernicle Geese have been 



