128 OUR HUMBLE HELPERS 



" Incubation lasts a month. As the eggs do not 

 all hatch at the same time and as the brooder, goose 

 or turkey, might be tempted to abandon the backward 

 eggs in order to take care of the first-born goslings, 

 it is advisable to take the little ones from the nest as 

 fast as they hatch and to put them in a wool-lined 

 basket. When the hatching is all finished, the family 

 is given back to the mother. Warmth and a special 

 diet are necessary the first few days. The goslings 

 are fed with a mixture of bread-crumbs, corn-meal, 

 milk, lettuce, and chopped nettles. At the end of 

 eight or ten days this careful treatment may cease, 

 and if the weather is fine the mother goose can be 

 allowed to lead the brood whither she pleases, even 

 to the neighboring pond, providing the water is 

 warm. The male, the gander, as it is called, generr 

 ally accompanies the family, protects it, and proves 

 his courage in time of danger. Woe betide the 

 thoughtless person who, even with no evil intention, 

 approaches the goslings. The gander runs at him, 

 neck outstretched, with loud and hissing cry, and 

 gives him battle with wing and beak. When I was 

 young I knew a little scamp who threw a stone at 

 the goslings and was straightway knocked down by 

 a blow of the gander 's wing and then well thrashed. 

 Timely aid was rendered, else the imprudent assail- 

 ant would have been disfigured by the bird. ' ' 



"You caught it that time, stone-thrower ! " cried 

 Emile. "For my part, I never pick a quarrel with 

 geese ; but one day they chased me and caught me by 

 the blouse. Oh, how frightened I was!" 



