THE BRENT GOOSE. 453 



pets, whatever care we may take to protect them. This clear, 

 uninterrupted day, two or three months long, of settled, de- 

 licious weather, gives a complete explanation of the apparent 

 paradox that birds should retire to the regions, reputed abso- 

 lutely icy, of the North, for breeding purposes. But those 

 who have made the precincts of the Mediterranean their 

 Elysium on earth, can have no conception of the health, the 

 vigour, the manly tone of mind and body, to be inspired from 

 Hyperborean breezes. 



Oh that I had the wings of a Dove ! then would I flee 

 away with my little ones to the rich pine-forests, the rushing 

 streams, the deep-cut inlets of the far North,, and be at rest, 

 till the snow-drifts of October made us again retreat, with the 

 wild-fowl, to the temperate and hopitable shores of Britain ! 



THE BRENT GOOSE. 



THIS, and the interesting little Sandwich Island Goose, are 

 the smallest of their tribe yet introduced to our aquatic avia- 

 ries; both being inferior in size to-some Ducks. The captive 

 Brent Goose has not, that I am aware, bred in any British 

 collection. According to Audubon, it has been known to 

 produce young in captivity, but when, or where, or on what 

 authority, is not stated. To attain this result here, the most 

 likely method is, probably, to make an approach to their na- 

 tural nabits, by supplying them with occasional marine diet. 

 Fragments of shells, that had apparently been swallowed whole, 

 have often been found in their gizzards. It might also be ex- 

 pedient to assemble them in a flock, instead of keeping just a 

 single pair, so that they could consult their own individual 

 tastes in the choice of partners. Their picturesque effect, too. 

 will be greater in this way. Their almost uniform colour of 



