96 IN PURSUIT OF THE MAY FLY 



green grass and farmyard stuff they consume ; and 

 pray tell me, when they are fat, and have made 

 themselves ready for the cook and the spit, what 

 more delicious than a fine Michaelmas goose ? 

 Was not Queen Elizabeth on her way to Tilbury 

 entertained with roast goose ? It was after partak- 

 ing of a hearty dinner of goose that she gave the 

 toast, "Destruction to the Spanish Armada." 

 Thereupon immediately came the news of the 

 total destruction of that fleet. " Henceforth," said 

 the Queen, " shall a goose commemorate that great 

 victory." 



The goose is a classic bird. The royal game of 

 goose belongs, so far as I know, to remote antiquity. 

 Every one knows that the Capitol of Rome was 

 saved by the cackling of the wise and sacred geese. 

 Geese and goslings, ducks and ducklings, swarm 

 on this river. There is no getting away from them. 

 A pleasant thing it is to see a flock of geese come 

 sailing down-stream on to a favourite quiet stretch 

 just as you are casting over a rising trout. " Shoo- 

 lag," you shout. They hate that word. It means 

 to them something quite opprobrious, and they 

 launch out at you such a volley of abuse as would 

 turn your hair grey if you understood their lan- 

 guage; but down they come. Nothing will stop 

 them but a lump of mud. This makes them turn 

 round and sail up the water which they had 

 already disturbed for half-a-mile. To fish after 

 them would be folly, for, to say nothing of the com- 

 motion they make in the water, they clear it of 



