THE CANADA GOOSE. 



115 



with a Bernacle gander. Nevertheless, the 

 man persisted stoutly in what he had affirmed, 

 and I told the story to others, and nobody 

 believed me. 



In the breeding season, however, of 1842, 

 this diminutive gander and magnificent goose 

 appeared on the island ; and as the spot which 

 they had occupied on the preceding year was 

 very bleak and quite unsheltered, I thought 

 that I could offer them a more commodious 

 situation. 



Just opposite the eastern windows of the 

 sitting-room, and two-and-twenty yards distant 

 from them, there is yet alive the remnant of a 

 once superb and fertile blackheart cherry-tree. 

 It was evidently past its prime in the days of 

 my early youth; but I can well remember that 

 it then bore ponderous loads of dainty cherries. 

 This cherry-tree, like the hand that is now 

 writing a description of it, appears the worse 

 for wear ; and the wintry blasts of more than 

 half a century have too clearly proved that 

 neither its internal vigour, nor the strength of 

 its gigantic limbs, could make an effectual stand 

 against the attacks of such sturdy antagonists. 

 Its north-western and north-eastern parts have 

 i 2 



