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 



