GEESE 207 



the aged mother was fading visibly into the tomb, 

 though so slowly that long months went by 

 while she lay on her bed, a weird-looking object 

 — I remember her well — leaner, greyer, more 

 ghost-like, than the silent, lean, grey heron in the 

 marsh hard by. And at last she faded out of 

 life, aged, it was said by her descendants, a 

 hundred and ten years ; and, after she was dead, 

 it was found that of that great company of noble 

 birds there remained only a small remnant of 

 about forty, and these were probably incapable 

 of sustained flight. The others returned no 

 more ; but whether they met their death from 

 duck and swan shooters in the marshes, or had 

 followed the great river down to the sea, for- 

 getting their home, was never known. For 

 about a year after they had ceased going back, 

 small flocks were occasionally seen in the marshes, 

 very wild and strong on the wing, but even these, 

 too, vanished at last. 



It is probable that, but for powder and shot, 

 the domestic goose of Europe, by occasionally 

 taking to a feral life in thinly-settled countries, 

 would ere this have become widely distributed 

 over the earth. 



