WILD GEESE. 
181 
so violent a blow, that it was stunned, and taken up 
by one of tbe threshers. The Goose is, in truth, by no 
means a cowardly bird, and will often, when excited, 
defend himself very courageously ; a quality of which 
the Russians seem well aware, as it is not an uncom- 
mon thing in that country, instead of training up 
Game Cocks for fighting, to have what are termed 
Goose-pits, where they are regularly trained for 
the sport. The birds are taught to peck at each 
others shoulders, so as to draw blood; and well- 
trained Ganders have been known to sell as high as 
twenty pounds, and betting upon them runs very 
high. This cruel sport takes place in March*. 
Our domestic Geese are descended from the marsh 
or fen Goose ( Anser palustris\ which, though 
originally a wild species, is more easily tamed than 
some others, particularly if taken young. Not but 
that some of this race may be domesticated. In 
America, where vast flights pass to the northward 
to breed, the people shoot them in great numbers, 
and as many, owing to their wide spread of 
wing, are often merely pinioned, they are kept 
alive, and, in process of time, have been made so 
tame, that, having been let out in the morning, 
they returned in the evening. Several have been 
thus kept for many years ; but although they 
constantly associated with the farm-yard Geese, 
they were never known to breed with them. 
Under particular circumstances, a wild Goose has 
indeed been known to throw itself under the pro- 
tection of man. Thus, an officer settled on a farm 
near the Missouri, in North America, one day, when 
* Granville’s Russia, 
