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great scale of the creation. Her flesh feeds many, and is not disdained even by the great; her feathers keep us warm; and 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 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 Gozzard, or 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 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, render our general contempt of the Goose ill founded.

The Goose was 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 Æneid,

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, gray, black, and sometimes yellow. The feet, which are

palmated, are orange-coloured, and the beak is serrated. A longer description of a bird so well known would be an encroachment upon the reader's time.

The Wild Goose is of course the original of the tame one, and differs much in colour from her, the general tint of the feathers being a cinereous black. They fly by night in large flocks, to distant countries; and their clang is heard from the regions of the clouds, although the birds are out of sight.

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Is also divided into wild and tame, the latter being but the same species altered by domestication; the difference between both is very trifling, save that the colour of the Mallard, or male wild Duck, is constantly the same in all the individuals, whereas the Drakes, or tame ones, are varied in their plumage. The females do not share with the males the same beauty of plu mage: the admirable scarf of glossy green and blue, which surrounds the neck of the Drakes and Mallards, is an exclusive prerogative of the male sex. There is also a curious and invariable peculiarity belonging to the males, which consists of a few curled feathers rising upon the rump. The wild Ducks are caught by

decoys in the fen countries, and in such prodigious numbers, that in only ten decoys in the neighbourhood of Wainfleet, as many as thirty-one thousand two hundred have been caught in one season. They do not always build their nests close to the water, but often at a considerable distance from it; in which case the female will take the young ones in her beak, or between her legs, to the water. They have sometimes been known to lay their eggs in a high tree, in a deserted magpie or crow's nest; and an instance has been recorded of one being found at Etchingham, in Sussex, sitting upon nine eggs in an oak, at the height of twenty-five feet from the ground: the eggs were supported by some small twigs laid cross ways.

The tame Ducks, reared about mills and rivers, or wherever there is a sufficient quantity of water for them to indulge their sports and searches for food, become a branch of trade, which proves very profitable to their owners.

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WEIGHS about twenty-two ounces, and feeds upon grass and roots growing at the bottom of lakes, rivers, and ponds. The plumage of this bird is much variegated, and his flesh esteemed a great delicacy, though not so highly praised as that of the teal. The bill of

the Wigeon is black; the head and upper part of the neck of a bright bay; the back and sides under the wings waved with black and white; the breast purple, and the belly white; the legs are dusky. The young of both sexes are gray, and continue in this plain garb till the month of February; after which a change takes place, and the plumage of the male begins to assume its rich colourings, in which, it is said, he continues till the end of July; and then again the feathers become dark and gray, so that he is hardly to be distinguished from the female. When we consider that in the season of love the plumage of several birds assumes a greater lustre, we are inclined to conclude that this elegance and gaudiness of colouring, for which nature seems to have exhausted the finest tints of her pallet, are not merely destined, as we proudly think, to amuse the of man, but answer some more important purpose. This general observation applies itself to several other birds, who are decked by the hands of Providence in a particular manner, at the time when the secret impulse of one of the first laws of nature calls them to the duty of multiplying their species.

eye

The Wigeons commonly fly in small flocks, during the night, and may be known from others by their whistling note while they are on the wing. These birds quit the desert morasses of the north on the approach of winter, and as they advance towards the end of their destined southern journey, they spread themselves along the shores, and over the marshes and lakes, in various parts of the continent, as well as those of the British isles; and it is said that some of the flocks advance as far south as Egypt.

The Wigeon is easily domesticated in places where there is plenty of water, and is much admired for its beauty, sprightly look, and busy, frolicsome manners.

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Is the least of the duck kind, weighing only twelve ounces. The breast and belly are of a dirty white, inclining to a gray tint. The back and sides under the wings are curiously varied with lines of white and black; the wings are all over brown, and the tail of the same colour. This bird is common in England during the winter months, and it is still uncertain whether it does not breed here as it does in France. Dr. Heysham says it is known to breed in the mosses about Carlisle. The female makes her nest of reeds interwoven with grass; and, as it is reported, places it among the rushes, in order that it may rise and fall according to the accidental height of the water. Their eggs are of the size of those of a pigeon, six or seven in number, and of a dull white colour, marked with small brownish spots; but it appears that they sometimes lay ten or twelve eggs, for Buffon remarks that that number of young are seen in clusters on the pools, feeding on cresses, chervil, and some other weeds; as well as upon seeds and small animated beings that swarm in the water. The flesh of the Teal is a great delicacy in the winter season, and has less of the fishy flavour than any of the wild duck kind. It is known to breed and remain throughout the year in various temperate climates of the world, and is met with as far northward as Iceland in the summer.

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