Our Youths' Department.

NATURAL HISTORY.

THE GOOSE.

WHAT we said of the duck, we may here repeat of the goose-that it ranks among our most useful animals. But, not like some, whose usefulness ends with their life, the goose is even more useful dead than living. When cooked, the young folks do not fail to give it a hearty welcome to table, especially when accompanied with a good supply of apple sauce. To its feathers and down we are, to a great extent, indebted for our soft beds and pillows. Before the introduction of steel pens, its quill was in universal use for writing, and even now, owing to the greater freedom with which it can be used, it is preferred by many. It furnishes the shuttle-cocks of our sportive little friends with feathers, and, in not a few instances, it has given ornaments to the hats of ladies, who lacked the means or disposition to procure feathers of a rarer kind.

Of geese there are several species, but with the tame or domestic goose we are best acquainted. The female lays a good number of eggs, and hatches them with great care. While she sits the gander generally visits her two or three times during the day, and sometimes drives her off to take her place, where he sits in great state. When the young come from the shells he seems to regard them with great pride, and at once assumes the position of their guardian. He does not wait till they are attacked, but when dog, child, or man approaches, he at once makes towards them with outstretched neck and open bill, hissing like a serpent. Almost every farmer in the country keeps a flock of geese; but in the Fens of Lincolnshire rearing geese seems to be a regular business. Sometimes one person will possess several thousands. We are told that during the breeding season they are lodged in the same houses with the inhabitants, and even in their very bedchambers. Of course, there are some who have pens specially constructed for them. A great many of these geese come to supply the London market; and it is highly amusing to see the way they are led through the streets. They are not put into crates, as we have often seen ducks and hens, but they are led along walking in

single file. Sometimes a flock of several hundreds, extending in length a quarter of a mile, are thus led through the busiest thoroughfares, without receiving the slightest injury, and as they waddle, one after another, with all the regularity of trained soldiers, they attract the attention of all passers-by, and excite no little merriment amongst them.

It is much to be regretted that the cruelty of plucking the feathers from the geese while they are living is still practised. On the authority of Pennant, we are told that the plucking takes place five times during the year. The old geese submit quietly to the operation, but the young ones are very noisy and unruly. It is said that the birds, after having undergone this operation several times, become thin and feverish, and unfit to eat. Many of them die, but others are sent off to market and sold-the purchasers, no doubt, discovering, by the toughness of the flesh, when it is too late, the fraud that has been practised upon them. The excuse made for this barbarous practice is, that the feathers plucked from the living birds are much superior to those plucked from dead ones; besides, the birds thus plucked still live to produce more feathers. This, however, is no excuse for such cruelty. In France the goose is in very poor repute as a dish, but pie made from its liver is deemed a great delicacy. To secure the livers of the birds in such a state as to satisfy the pampered appetites of those "who live to eat," great cruelty has to be perpetrated. The wretched geese are nailed by the feet to a board, placed before a fire, crammed with food and supplied with drink, and in this situation the flesh, through fear, wastes away, and the liver becomes greatly swollen. We think the knowledge of such a fact ought to be sufficient to do away with the eating of goose-liver pies in any civilized country.

Why it is that geese are generally looked upon as very foolish birds we cannot tell; for, both in their wild and tame state, they display considerable sagacity. A curious instance of forethought in one who was about to die is related by Mrs. Lee, on the authority of Mr. Brew, of Ennis:-“An old goose, that had been sitting on her eggs for a fortnight, 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 outhouse, 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, I know of no way of accounting for this fact than by supposing that the old one had some way of communicating her thoughts and anxieties which the other was perfectly able to understand." This is a queer story, and ought to be well attested to be believed.

Many instances of the attachment of geese to particular persons are given, the following of which deserves special mention :-A farmer in Cheshire had a flock of geese, and after three years one of them began to pay him special attention. It forsook its companions in the farm-yard, and followed him wherever he went, as dogs are accustomed to follow their masters; and so great was its perseverance, that, when he wished to go from home alone, he had to shut it up before he started. When he was out ploughing in the field, the goose in a stately manner walked before, often turning round and looking at him intently. In the evening it followed him home, and, when permitted, would mount on his lap as he sat by the fire, and nestle its head in his bosom, or preen his hair with its beak, as it was wont to do its own feathers. When the farmer went out a shooting the goose followed him, as usual, getting over the fences as well as he did himself. In all this, the farmer gave it no encouragement, but it persevered, notwithstanding his opposition. At length, he became superstitious, and thinking the conduct of the bird foreboded some evil, he killed it.

A goose, one time after the river Cart had overflowed its banks, appeared at Paisley. Nobody knew whence it came, and so it was seized, and put aside to be killed and eaten; but, by-and-by, it was discovered to be so old as not to be worth the trouble. Yet this worthless stranger soon became the general favourite of the whole town. Its place of abode was the Saracen's Head Inn, where it remained as a fixture, passing from tenant to tenant. It manifested the martial spirit in no common degree. Wherever soldiers were stationed in the town, it was sure to be present; and the roll of the drum, or the sound of the bugle, seemed to give it special pleasure. With the sentry it marched backward and forward, day by day, in front of the gaol; and when the soldiers were withdrawn, it continued the practice for a considerable while alone. To every one wearing a military uniform it paid special attention; and when soldiers were standing talking, it seemed to listen as if interested in the conversation. It likewise selected friends from