360 
GEESE AND GANDERS. 
eggs. The dairy-maid, thinking these too few for so large 
a bird to cover, added an equal number of Duck eggs. The 
next morning she went as usual to see if all was right, when, 
to her great surprise, she found the Goose quiet on her nest, 
hut every one of the Duck eggs picked out, and lying on 
the ground. Her mistress directed her to replace them, 
which was accordingly done ; hut the next morning, on going 
again to examine the nest, she found all the Duck eggs, as 
before, moved off, and lying round about the nest ; the Goose 
eggs remaining under the sitting bird in perfect order. How 
long she would have persevered in removing them is not 
known, as, for fear of driving the Goose from her nest, the 
experiment was not repeated. 
When once attached to each other, they appear to be very 
constant; in proof of which, a person having marked five 
separate Ganders, and five separate Geese, with which they 
had paired, found that, for three successive years, when he 
attended to them, each regularly selected his companion of 
the former year, and continued faithful to her. Why the 
Goose has been so generally pointed out, proverbially, as the 
most foolish of birds, it is difficult to say ; for the above, as 
well as the following instances, would lead us to believe that 
they are endowed with a larger, rather than a less, portion 
of sense than other birds. 
An old Goose, which had been for a fortnight hatching in 
a farmer’s kitchen, was perceived on a sudden to be taken 
violently ill. She soon after left the nest, and repaired to 
an out-house, where there was a young Goose of the first 
year, which she brought with her into the kitchen. The 
young one immediately scrambled into the old one’s nest, 
sat, hatched, and afterwards brought up the brood. The 
old Goose, as soon as the young one had taken her place, sat 
down by the side of the nest, and shortly after died. As 
the young Goose had never been in the habit of entering the 
kitchen before, the fact can only be accounted for by sup- 
posing that the old one had some way of communicating her 
thoughts and anxieties, which the young one was perfectly 
able to understand. We give this anecdote on the authority 
