FEBRUARY 29 



fourth year, and do not enter the holy state of matrimony 

 until they have done so. It will be seen, therefore, that 

 creatures which have to attain four years of age before 

 making any attempt at reproduction, and then only pro- 

 duce one egg per annum, are not likely to multiply at an 

 excessive rate. Moreover, their adventurous existence is 

 liable to be cut short by a violent death, for it is no un- 

 common thing for gannets in pursuit of herrings to get 

 entangled in the nets, and so to perish. 



IX 



Talking of accidents to bird life, note may be taken of 

 a singular fatality which overtook some wild wlldGeese 

 geese during a sudden severe thunderstorm struck by 

 which passed over part of Norfolk early in "s^^g 

 February 1906. Five dead geese were picked up on the 

 football field of Gresham's School, having been struck by 

 lightning. The fact is attested by Mr. J. G. Wood, second 

 master of Gresham's School, who examined the birds ; 

 and he adds that three more geese were reported as hav- 

 ing been killed in like manner at Weybourne, and five 

 more at Welling, villages in the same neighbourhood. A 

 fate so untoward and, apparently, so undeserved, makes 

 one muse upon the Scripture which assures us that not 

 a sparrow 'shall fall on the ground without your 

 Father.' 



These birds were of the species known as the pink- 

 footed goose (Anser brachyrynchus), which is the com- 

 monest kind in East Anglia. As Lord Lilford remarks in 

 his Birds of the British Isles, the English name is very 

 unsatisfactory, seeing that of the six species of wild geese 



