384 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



on the subject, and tends to prove that a wild goose of some species (said to 

 be the Greylag) was to be found breeding in Cambridgeshire a century 

 ago. The letter to which I refer is printed in Prof. Owen's edition of John 

 Hunter's Essays (vol. ii. p. 321), and is addressed to Hunter by William 

 Walcot, jun., of Oundle, Northamptonshire. It runs thus : — 



"Oundle, Dec. 30tb, 1790. 

 " Sir, — By the assistance of the servant to whom the care of our poultry 

 is consigned, I am now enabled to give you a more particular account of the 

 geese I some time since sent you, and which I have had the satisfaction to 

 hear were acceptable. To the best of my recollection, it was in the summer 

 of 1773 that I took the original goose (now in my possession) with three 

 others (then very little goslings) in the fens between Cambridge and Ely. 

 An old wild goose taking flight from some sedge and rushes, led me to the 

 discovery of them. In the spring of 1774 two only remained, one having 

 taken wing and flown off, and another having fallen by the hand of the 

 cook; the remaining two being females, we were disappointed of a brood 

 that year." 



The writer then goes on to state that the following year (1775) a common 

 gander was introduced, and several cross-bred birds were reared, some of 

 which had been sent, as above intimated, to John Hunter. These are 

 described by Walcot as "constantly resembling the original goose, both in 

 delicacy of shape and colour, which is that of the wild goose, with some 

 white under the tail." In a note appended to this letter Hunter has 

 written, " This goose is of the sort called Gray-legs, or Hush-goose, the only 

 one of the tribe that breeds in this country ; and is the only one fit for the 

 table." When Pennant wrote his ' British Zoology,' the first edition of 

 which was published in 1766 (the same year as the 12th edition of the 

 ' Systema' of Linnaeus), he remarked of the Greylag Goose : — " This species 

 resides in the fens the whole year; breeds there, and hatches about eight or 

 nine young, which are often taken, easily made tame, and esteemed most 

 excellent meat, superior to the domestic goose. The old geese which are 

 shot are plucked and sold in the market as fine tame ones, and readily 

 bought, the purchaser being deceived by the size, but their flesh is coarse. 

 Towards winter they collect in great flocks, but in all seasons live and feed 

 in the fens." It may have been a little later than this, perhaps, that the 

 Rev. W. B. Daniel took young Wild Geese in the fens, as related in the 

 third volume of his 'Rural Sports' (p. 242), published in 1807. " This 

 species (the Greylag)," he says, " inhabits the English fens, and it is believed 

 does not migrate, as in many countries on the Continent, but resides and 

 breeds in the fens ; they sit thirty days, and hatch eight or niue young, 

 which are often taken ; are esteemed most excellent meat, and are easily 

 made tame. The compiler took two broods one season, which he turned 





