3% WILD GOOSE. 



at least, in which time the young are brought forth : 

 as soon afterwards as the brood are able to waddle 

 along, they are, together with their dams, driven to 

 the adjacent fens or marshes, on whose luxuriant 

 grassy-margined pools they feed and thrive, without 

 requiring any further attendance until the autumn. 



Incredible numbers are frequently driven from the 

 distant counties to London for sale, frequently two 

 or three thousand in a drove. The drivers are each 

 provided with a long stick, at one end of which a 

 red rag is tied as a lash, and a hook is fixed at the 

 other : with the former, of which the Geese seem 

 much afraid, they are excited forward ; and with the 

 latter, such as attempt to stray, are caught by the 

 neck and kept in order ; or if lame, they are put 

 into an hospital cart, which usually follows each large 

 drove. In this manner they perform their journeys 

 from distant parts, and are said to get forward at the 

 rate of eight or ten miles in a day : those which be- 

 come fatigued are fed with oats, and the rest with 

 barley. 



Notwithstanding the apparent simplicity of Geese, 

 and the awkwardness of their gesture, they are not 

 destitute either of sentiment or understanding. The 

 courage with which they protect their young and 

 defend themselves against the attacks of ravenous 

 birds, and recorded instances of warm attachment 

 which they have exhibited, render the general con- 

 tempt of them ill-founded. 



