THE CANADA GOOSE. 



117 



up at his knees, and not desist in his aggres- 

 sions until the intruder had retired. There 

 was something so remarkably disproportionate 

 betwixt this goose and gander, that I gave to 

 this the name of Mopsus, and to that the name 

 of Nisa ; and I would sometimes ask the splendid 

 Canadian Nisa, as she sat on her eggs, how she 

 could possibly have lost her heart to so di- 

 minutive a little fellow as Bernacle Mopsus, 

 when she had so many of her own comely species 

 present, from which to choose a happy and 

 efficient partner. 



The whole affair appeared to be one of ridicule 

 and bad taste ; and I was quite prepared for a 

 termination of it, similar to that of the two 

 preceding years, when behold! to my utter 

 astonishment, out came two young ones, the 

 remainder of the five eggs being addle. 



The vociferous gesticulations and strutting of 

 little Mopsus were beyond endurance, when he 

 first got sight of his long-looked-for progeny. 

 He screamed aloud, whilst Nisa helped him to 

 attack me with their united wings and hissings 

 as I approached the nest in order to convey 

 the little ones to the water ; for the place at 

 which the old birds were wont to get upon the 



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