CHAP. XI.] FARMING FOR LADIES. 239 



in many parts of the kingdom, and sometimes 

 remained to breed in the fenny districts of the 

 eastern counties ; yet, since the drainage and 

 cultivation of those marshes, they are now 

 rarely seen. They fly together in angular 

 lines, at a vast height, led on by one bird 

 heading the columns, which meet to a point, 

 and when they alight for food and rest, sen- 

 tinels are stationed among them to guard 

 the flock from surprise. Naturalists describe 

 more than twenty varieties, but the difference 

 is generally so slight as to be, in most in- 

 stances, more fanciful than real, and the only 

 species which are commonly looked upon as 

 being distinct are the " Gannet," or " Solan- 

 Goose," the " Barnacle," and the " Brent." 



The Domestic Goose diflfers nothing, except 

 slightly in its plumage, from the wild breed ; 

 the belly of which is white, but the rest of the 

 feathers of a dingy, ash-coloured grey, while 

 those of the tame breed are generally quite 

 white, though some are grey, and the females, 

 even of the white breed, have commonly a few 

 grey feathers intermixed. It may excite sur- 

 prise that such a trivial point as white or grey 

 should occasion any difference of opinion ; yet 



