112 



THE CANADA GOOSE. 



in a higher station of the same establishment, 

 my ornithological views were frustrated, and I 

 may say, I lost at one go, my time, my patience, 

 and my money. You shall see how this hap- 

 pened. Having purchased two pairs of Bernacle 

 geese, and four wigeons at Rotterdam, I got 

 them put into a hamper, and I took them with 

 me on board the vessel which steams weekly 

 betwixt that town and the port of Hull. We 

 had a charming passage, short and smooth ; and 

 on our arrival in the Humber, I informed the 

 visiting Custom-House officer that I had four 

 geese and four wigeons in the hamper which 

 stood before him. " They must go to the 

 Custom House," said he. " I know they must," 

 said I, "if they were dead geese for the pur- 

 pose of commerce. But they are living geese," 

 continued I, " and of course exempt by law from 

 such an unpleasant errand." " No matter," said 

 he obstinately ; " to the Custom House they must 

 and shall go, alive or dead." And to the Custom 

 House they went on a truck without springs, 

 trotting all the way over the rough pavement 

 into the heart of the town of Hull. On our 

 arrival at the Custom House, another officer, in 

 a harsh tone of voice, asked me why I had 



