The Wild Goose. 387 
and even the very pen I hold in my hand was plucked 
from her wing. 
These birds are kept in vast quantities in the fens 
of Lincolnshire ; several persons there having as many 
as a thousand breeders. They breed in general only 
once a year, but if well kept the}' 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 thou- 
sand. However simple in appearance or awkward in 
gesture the Goose may be, it is not without many marks 
of sentiment and understanding. The courage with 
which it protects its offspring and defends itself against 
ravenous birds, and certain instances of attachment, and 
even of gratitude, which have been observed in it, ren- 
der our general contempt of the Goose ill-founded. 
The Goose was held in great veneration among the 
Romans, as having by her watchfulness saved the 
Capitol from the attack of the Gauls. Virgil says, in 
the seventh book of the JEneid, 
" The silver goose before the shining gate 
There flew, and by her cackle saved the state." 
Dbyden. 
The colour of this useful bird is generally white ; 
though we often find them of a mixture of white, grey 
black, and sometimes yellow. The feet which are pal- 
mated, 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 the original of the tame one, and 
differs much in colour from her, the general tint of its 
feathers being a greyish black. Wild Geese fly by night 
