116 GREY-.LAG GOOSE. 



Mind woman, who probably might have been in the habit of 

 feeding it, used to be led every Sunday to church by a Gander 

 talcing hold of her gown with his bill. When she had seated 

 herself, it retired to graze in the churchyard till she came 

 out again, when it led her home. One day, the clergyman 

 called at her house, and expressing his surprise to her daughter 

 that her mother should venture abroad; she replied, 'Oh, 

 sir! we are not afraid of trusting her out of sight, for the 

 Gander is with her" 



The Bishop continues, 'We frankly own that so strange and 

 improbable do the above stories appear, that we should neither 

 have inserted nor paid the slightest attention to them, had 

 we not the following testimony to their credibility, for the 

 accuracy of which we can readily vouch; and deeply do we 

 regret that a better fate did not await so extraordinary a bird, 

 which under more intelligent observers might have afforded 

 opportunities of ascertaining the extent of so unusual a 

 development of affection. 



A farmer in Cheshire possessed a flock of Geese, one of 

 which, at the end of about three years, without any apparent 

 cause, began to shew a peculiar partiality for its master. It 

 first appeared on the bird's quitting its companions in the 

 barn-yard or pond, and stalking after him. These symptoms 

 became daily stronger, and in a short time wherever the 

 farmer went, whether to the mill, or the blacksmith's shop, 

 or through the bustling streets of a neighbouring manufacturing 

 town, the Goose was at his heels. So perseveringly did it 

 follow his steps that if he wished to go out alone, he was 

 under the necessity of fastening up the bird. 



The farmer was in the habit of holding his own plough, 

 and on these occasions, the Goose as regularly passed the 

 day in the ploughing field, walking sedately, not with the 

 usual waddling pace of its fellow-geese, but with a firm step, 

 head elevated, and neck erect, a short way before him in 

 the line of the furrows, frequently turning round and fixing 

 its eyes intently upon him. When the length of one furrow 

 was accomplished, and the plougb turned, the Goose, without 

 losing its step, adroitly wheeled about, and thus continued 

 its attendance till the evening, and then followed its master 

 home; and, if permitted, would mount upon his lap as he 

 sat by the fire after dark, shewing the strongest signs of 

 affection, and nestling its head in his bosom, and preening 

 the hair of his head with its beak, as it was wont to do 



