220 



GOOSE, 



* In the Environs of London, by Mr. Lysons, an anecdote is given of 

 the partiality of a Canada Goose for a yard dog : the Goose could only 

 be separated by force from her canine friend, and after his death fell a 

 sacrifice, by endeavouring to possess that seat in the kennel where she 

 had so long been fostered with the kindest friendship by his predecessor. 



A similar attachment we recollect of the China Goose, the male of 

 which had been killed by a young- pointer. Ponto was most severely 

 punished for this misdemeanor, and had the dead bird tied to his neck. 

 The solitary Goose became extremely distressed for the loss of her 

 partner and only companion, and probably having been attracted to the 

 dog's kennel by the sight of her dead mate, she seemed determined to 

 persecute Ponto by her constant attendance and continual vociferations; 

 after a little time, however, a strict amity and friendship subsisted be- 

 tween these incongruous animals : they fed out of the same trough, lived 

 under the same roof, and in the same straw-bed kept each other warm; 

 and when the dog was taken to the field, the inharmonious lamenta- 

 tions of the Goose for the absence of her friend were incessant. 



M. Cuvier has published a brief description of a bird produced be- 

 tween a Swan and a Goose, which in fact amounts to its being a per- 

 fect Goose in every thing but size like its mother, which it greatly 

 exceeds. 



The common Goose, from which our domestic breed is descended, 

 must have been domesticated many centuries ; and it is rather surpris- 

 ing- that many other species of the larger birds, especially of the aquatic 

 kind, have not been brought under the dominion of man. 



The common or grey-legged Goose was formerly indigenous to this 

 country, and bred in the then vast, extensive, and impenetrable swamps 

 and fens contiguous to the eastern coasts of the kingdom. The labour 

 of man, by draining and cultivating- these fens and morasses, has 

 entirely depopulated these places of their native inhabitants ; but he 

 has wisely selected the Goose from the number of the feathered tribe 

 that once roamed at large over these extended flats, and by domestica- 

 tion, and conversion into private property, has made it prove to him a 

 source of real wealth. These swamps, which in more barbarous times 

 yielded a scanty subsistence to the natives, by the promiscuous capture 

 of such birds, are now teeming with them in a domesticated and highly 

 improved state. Those who have never witnessed the abundance that 

 are fed in some of the fens in Lincolnshire, can form no idea of this 

 real golden treasure, nor of the beauty of the innumerable flocks that 

 enliven those dreary tracts, as yet too moist to afford wholesome pasture 

 for sheep. 



