THE CANADA GOOSE. Ill 



strayed far enough from the water's edge to 

 allow us to place ourselves betwixt it and them. 

 At length I effected my purpose by a stratagem, 

 and secured them. 



There can be nothing more enlivening to 

 rural solitude than the trumpet-sounding notes 

 of the Canada Goose. They may be heard here 

 at most hours of the day, and often during the 

 night. But spring is the time at which these 

 birds are most vociferous. Then it is that they 

 are on the wing, moving in aerial circles round 

 the mansion, — now rising aloft, now dropping 

 into the water, with such notes of apparent joy 

 and revelry as cannot fail to attract the attention 

 of those who feel an interest in contemplating 

 Nature's wildest scenery. 



Somehow or other it has unfortunately been 

 my lot through life to pay smartly for my 

 little researches in Natural History, when 

 business or inclination have brought me back 

 to the shores of my native country. The former 

 zeal-subduing affair at Liverpool will not be 

 unknown to those who shall have read the 

 Wanderings ; and latterly at Hull, through the 

 pig-headedness of a subaltern Custom-House 

 officer, and the haughty demeanour of another 



