326 A DESCRIPTION OF 
year, but if well kept they sometimes hatch twice in a 
season. During their sitting, the birds have spaces allotted 
to each, in rows of wicker pens placed one above another ; 
and the Goose-herd, who has the care of them, drives the 
whole flock to water twice a day, and bringing them back 
to their habitations, places every bird (without missing 
one) in its own nest. It is scarcely credible what numbers 
of Geese are driven from the distant counties to London 
for sale, frequently two or three thousand in a drove ; and, 
in the year 1783, one drove passed through Chelmsford, 
in its way from Suffolk to London, that contained more 
than nine thousand. However simple in appearance, or 
awkward in gesture, the Goose may be, it is not without 
many marks of sentiment and understanding. The cou- 
rage with which it protects its offspring and defends it- 
self against ravenous birds, and certain instances of 
attachment and even of gratitude, which have been ob- 
served in it, render our general contempt of the Goose ill- 
founded. 
The Goose was held in great veneration among the Ro- 
mans, as having by her watchfulness saved the Capitol 
from the attack of the Gauls. Virgil says, in the seventh 
book of the 2Eneid, 
The silver Goose before the shining gate 
There flew, and by her cackle saved the state. 
DRYDEN. 
The colour of this useful bird is generally white ; yet 
we often find them of a mixture of white, grey, black, and 
sometimes yellow. The feet, which are palmated, are 
orange-coloured, and the beak is serrated. The male of 
the Goose is called the Gander ; and the young ones 
Goslings. Geese are very long-lived, one is known to 
have lived above seventy years. 
The Wild Goose is of course the original of the tame 
one, and differs much in colour from her, the general tint 
