652 president’s address. 
country, a dead Ass is seldom to be seen, and their age limit 
• is uncertain. In 1005 I saw one which was known to be at 
least forty years old, though still in good fettle, very rotund, 
and apt to shy badly on the road. A thirty-eight-year-old 
Pony still does an occasional journey of some three or four 
miles between Stalham and Palling. 
During the heat of summer, some of the few Cows which are 
kept on the common, may, during hot weather, frequently be 
seen standing assembled for hours together, knee deep in mud 
and water, chewing the cud, and flicking their tails at foraging 
flies. Some Cow-keepers say that this prolonged paddling 
spoils the quality of the milk ; it undoubtedly conduces to 
coolness and comfort, and maj' act deterrently upon some 
species of insect foes. I have a note about watching a family 
of Wagtails acting as attendant Gnat or Fly catchers to 
wading Cows, and a pretty sight it was, there being scarce 
room for the long tails of the small birds above the water 
line, as they every now and again hovered to snatch an 
insect from the lower part of the Cows’ bodies. Ducks also 
meanwhile gather round the Cows for a similar purpose. 
Although the number of Geese annually reared on the 
common is considerably less than what it was some fifty 
years ago, the Gosherd is still with us. A good Goose is 
still expected to lay by Candlemas Day, and round about 
the anniversary of St. Valentine women may frequently be 
encountered on the road, handkerchief on head, and stick in 
hand, driving their Geese to or from the common. Incubation 
lasts about twenty-eight days. A Goose should never be set 
when the wind is in the east. Goslings generally appear about 
the same time of year as the Palm, or downy Sallow Catkins, 
begin to burst, and for their delectation beds of white turnip 
seed are thickly sown in autumn in the cottage gardens. 
Though their earliest food is composed of pills of yolk of egg and 
flour, Goslings are sold to the higglers when less than a month 
old for about two shillings apiece. What then becomes of them 
