2 9 o DECEMBER 



drawn wood, the noisy ride, are now as the cloister of a 

 sanctuary, the hearth of a home. 



5- 



By Holkham, in Norfolk, a stretch of land, as famous 

 among naturalists as the more inland farms are famous 

 among husbandmen, runs beside the sandy seaboard. 

 Some part of the region is afforested with pines, some is 

 marsh of varying degrees of consistency, some is inter 

 mittently flooded, and the plain of lowland is separated 

 from the plain of the sea by dunes or sandy ridges. This 

 region, peculiar in its combination of wild qualities, at 

 tracts a peculiar population. Such lands are as distinctive 

 in their animal denizens as in their plants. Even Breck- 

 land, or what part of it has been saved from afforestation 

 by needle-leaved trees, is not more distinctively in 

 habited. The region where Wells merges into Holkham 

 has been chosen for centuries as its favourite haunt 

 by the pink-footed goose, a great bird that most of us 

 have rare chances of seeing. Here the bird has long 

 found its optimum, its pick of favouring conditions ; but 

 fears are abroad that the geese are deserting their Para 

 dise. It becomes too dangerous. 



The geese have been regarded as fair game. Sportsmen 

 of many sorts have lain in wait for them in many secret 

 places, especially in the dunes ; and have taken toll, but 

 not heavy toll. The goose whether pink-footed or lag 

 or Brent is a very clever bird. Mr. Massingham, who 

 is among the best of our philosophic observers, argues 

 that it is the cleverest of all birds. Incidentally, how has 

 it come about that we use the goose and the owl, both 

 of which excel in wisdom, as types of stupidity ? The 

 clever geese have learnt to rise high when passing the 



