94 RAPIDITY OF FLIGHT. 



before, about the time he saw them, by thirty Geese, 

 which had all taken to flight, and not been since 

 heard of. 



An instance of uncommon flight, though not to 

 the extent of the above, occurred not long -ago in 

 Yorkshire. A person had a large flock of Geese, 

 which fed on high ground not visible from the house. 

 They were lessened, as occasion required, to about 

 six; these were fetched home every night, for some 

 weeks; and very frequently, on seeing the house 

 from the top of the hill, they would take wing, and 

 fly homewards, making a circuit of about a mile. 

 On one occasion, they were on the point of alighting 

 on a pond of water, near the next farm-house, in- 

 stead of a smaller one near home; they soon, how- 

 ever, discovered their mistake, and raised themselves 

 in the air, to nearly as great a height as before, 

 alighting on their own water; and were there long 

 before their driver, notwithstanding that he went 

 mostly in a direct line. These flights were consi- 

 dered as particularly remarkable, because the Geese 

 were, at the time, quite fat and heavy. We have a 

 similar instance of a common tame Duck, in Hert- 

 fordshire, which was in the constant habit of taking 

 flights, with the same power, and at the same height, 

 as a Crow, or as if in its wild state. The people of 

 the village were all aware of its singular propensity, 

 asserting that it would often rise and take the circuit 

 of a mile. 



As to our smaller species, there is scarcely a part 

 of the wide ocean, in the usual route of navigators, 

 over which some of the little land-birds have not 

 been seen flitting, blown off, in many instances pos- 



