Natural History in Anecdote Part 27

Goose Friends.h.i.+ps.

There are some curious instances known of friends.h.i.+ps formed by geese for both men and animals, apparently without any special reason. A goose in Ches.h.i.+re once followed a farmer with so much persistency, at the plough, to the market, and in the house, that the farmer who had shown it no special kindness, superst.i.tiously regarded it as a bird of ill omen and had it killed. A singular friends.h.i.+p grew up some years ago between a gander at York and an old man who lived near the farm to which the bird belonged. In this case the gander waddled off in the morning and spent the day with his human friend, returning at night to its home at the farm. One of the prettiest of these stories is that of a gander in Germany who used to lead a blind woman to church, taking the corner of her ap.r.o.n in his beak, and wait quietly in the churchyard until the service was over to conduct her home again. Another goose was known to have a great affection for soldiers and to regularly perform sentry duty, walking backwards and forwards for hours with his red-coated friends.

The Goose and the Dog.

A more singular friends.h.i.+p than any perhaps, was that existing between a goose and a dog, thus described in "The Philosophical Magazine":--

"A species of goose, a native of Africa, belonging to a person in Scotland, was observed some time ago to pay particular attention to a dog which was chained up; a dog which had previously manifested a great dislike to poultry, never allowing them to come within reach of his chain. The goose, finding she had nothing to fear from her canine friend, would enter his kennel, in the centre of which, among the straw, she made her nest and deposited her eggs, which was not known till one of the family mentioned that the goose slept in the dog's bosom. The singularity of the circ.u.mstance led to an examination of the box, but not without the greatest reluctance on the part of the dog, who appeared determined to protect what was left to his charge. On removing the straw, five eggs were discovered in a fine bed of down and feathers. The dog was in the habit of going into his box with the greatest care, for fear of injuring the eggs."

The Maternal Instinct of the Goose.

The Rev. C. A. Bury gives a pathetic ill.u.s.tration of the maternal instinct of the goose:--

"An old goose, that had been for a fortnight hatching 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. A sister of mine, who witnessed the transaction, gave me the information in the evening of the very day it happened." The Rev. F. C.

Morris tells of a goose which had a number of ducks' eggs placed with some of her own that she might hatch them, but which twice removed the ducks' eggs from the group, declining to sit on any but her own.

The Duck.

The many varieties of Ducks might well occupy much more s.p.a.ce than we can spare for them. The better known of these are the Wild Duck, the Common Duck, the Eider Duck, the Long-tailed Duck, the King Duck, the Canvas-back Duck, the Mallard, the Teal, the Widgeon, the Mandarin, and the Common Sh.e.l.ldrake.

An interesting ill.u.s.tration of the affection which ducks sometimes show towards each other is given by Dr. Stanley. He says:--"A pair of Muscovy Ducks were landed at Holyhead from a Liverpool vessel, returning from the coast of Africa. The male was conveyed to a gentleman's house, and put with other ducks, towards whom he evinced the utmost indifference: he evidently pined for the loss of his mate; but she was brought after a time, and let loose; he did not at first see her, but when, on turning his head, he caught a glimpse of her, he rushed towards her with a joy which was quite affecting. Nothing after that would induce him to quit her; he laid his beak upon hers, nestled his head under her wing, and often gazed at her with the greatest delight."

The Swan.

The Swan is one of the most graceful of the bird kind, the purity of its colour and the beauty of its form as it glides along the river making it one of the prettiest sights in nature. There are several varieties of the swan, of which the Whooping Swan and the Common Swan of Europe, the Black Swan of Australia, and the Black-necked Swan of South America are the most familiar.

The Maternal Instinct of the Swan.

The swan is a.s.siduous in the care of her young, and shows great intelligence in providing for them as well as courage in their defence.

She makes her nest in the gra.s.s among reeds; and in February begins to lay, depositing egg after egg, until there are six or eight. Dr. Latham mentions two females that for three or four years successively, agreed to a.s.sociate, and had each a brood yearly, bringing up together about eleven young ones: they sat by turns, and never quarrelled. Captain Brown gives a remarkable ill.u.s.tration of the courage of a swan in defending her nest. He says:--"A female swan, while in the act of sitting, observed a fox swimming towards her from the opposite sh.o.r.e: She instantly darted into the water, and having kept him at bay for a considerable time with her wings, at last succeeded in drowning him; after which, in the sight of several persons, she returned in triumph.

This circ.u.mstance took place at Pensy, in Buckinghams.h.i.+re."

The Swan's Intelligence.

Mr. Yarrell, in his "British Birds," mentions a remarkable instance of the sagacity and intelligence of the swan: "A female swan was sitting on four or five eggs. One day she was observed to be very busy in collecting weeds, gra.s.ses, and sticks, to raise her nest above its usual level. A kind-hearted farming man threw her some handfuls of brushwood, with which she most industriously raised her nest, and soon placed the eggs about two feet and a half above the old level. That night there came down a tremendous fall of rain, which flooded all the fields and cellars, and did great damage in the village. Man made no preparation--the bird did; and instinct prevailed over reason! Her eggs were above, and only just above, the water."

The Swan and the Fawn.

Swans are said to be spiteful at times, and to show a savagery of temper on occasion, for which, as in the following case, it is difficult to account. "In the park of Lord Grantley at Wonersh, near Guildford, a fawn, drinking, was suddenly pounced upon by one of the swans, which pulled the animal into the water, and held it under until quite drowned.

This action was observed by the other deer in the park, and did not long go unrevenged; for shortly after, this very swan, which had hitherto never been molested by the deer, was singled out when on land, and furiously attacked by a herd, which surrounded and killed it."

The Common Sea-Gull.

The Gulls are a numerous family, the Common Gull, the Herring Gull, the Great Black-Backed Gull and the Ivory Gull being well known species. The Common Gull is found everywhere. It frequents the coasts of continents and islands and feeds princ.i.p.ally upon fish, though its voracity is very accommodating, and its taste not over fastidious.

A Tame Sea-Gull

Many years ago, Mr. Scot, of Benholm, near Montrose, caught a sea-gull, and having cut its wings put it into his garden. The bird remained in this situation for several years, and being kindly treated, became so familiar, as to come at call to be fed at the kitchen door and to answer to the name of Willie. It became so tame at last that no pains were thought necessary to circ.u.mscribe its liberty, and its wings having grown to full length, it flew away, joined the other gulls on the beach, and came back, from time to time, to pay a visit to the house. When its companions left the country at the usual season, Willie accompanied them, much to the regret of the family. To their great joy, however, it returned next season; and with its usual familiarity came to its old haunt, where it was welcomed and fed very liberally. In this way it went and returned for _forty years_, without intermission, and kept up its acquaintance with the family, for while in the country it visited them almost daily, answered to its name like any domestic animal, and ate almost out of the hand. One year, however, very near the period of its final disappearance, Willie did not pay his respects to the family for eight or ten days after the general flock of gulls were upon the coast, and great was their lamentation for his loss, as it was feared he was dead: but to the surprise and joy of the family, a servant one morning came running into the breakfast-room with delight, announcing that Willie was returned. The whole company rose from the table to welcome the bird. Food was supplied in abundance, and Willie with his usual frankness ate of it heartily, and was as tame as any barn-yard fowl about the house. In a year or two afterwards this grateful bird disappeared for ever.

Mother Carey's Chicken.

The Stormy Petrel or Mother Carey's Chicken, is a small black bird well known to mariners, and familiar to all at sea in stormy weather. It follows in the wake of s.h.i.+ps and is regarded as a prophet of evil, at least in so far as stormy weather is concerned. It is seen in many parts of the ocean busily engaged in searching for food, braving the fury of the storm and skimming along the waves, sometimes above their tops, and sometimes screening itself from the blast by sinking down into the billows between them. It nests in all but inaccessible places, the Island of St. Kilda being the chief British breeding place of the Fulmar variety. These are of great importance to the natives who run great risks in searching for their eggs and who catch the birds for the purposes of food, and for the oil which they supply.

Catching the Stormy Petrel.

The danger attaching to the capture of the Petrel in its rocky haunts in the Hebrides is thus vividly described by Mr. Drosier. "As the stormy petrel, is scarcely ever to be seen near the land, except in very boisterous weather, one of the natives for a trifling remuneration, agreed to traverse the face of a rock, and take me some from out its fissures. Accordingly, accoutred with a rope of hemp and hogs' bristles coiled over his shoulders, he proceeded to the cliff. Having made one end fast by means of a stake, he threw the coil over the face of the rock, and gradually lowered himself down, but with the utmost caution and circ.u.mspection, carefully pressing his foot hard upon the narrow ridges before he at all loosened his firm grasp of the rope, which he never altogether abandoned. I had previously thrown myself upon my chest, to enable me to have a better view of him, by looking over the cliff; and, certainly, to see the dexterity and bravery with which he threw himself from one aperture to another, was truly grand. The tumbling roar of the Atlantic was foaming many hundreds of feet beneath, and das.h.i.+ng its curling cream-like surge against the dark base of the cliff, in sheets of the most beautiful white; while the herring and black-backed gulls, alternately sweeping past him so as to be almost in reach of his arm, threw a wildness into the scene, by the discordant scream of the former, and the laughing, oft-repeated bark of the latter.

This, however, he appeared entirely to disregard; and continuing his search, returned in about half an hour, with seven or eight of the stormy petrels, tied up in an old stocking, and a pair of the Manks puffins, together with their eggs. The birds, he told me, he had no difficulty in capturing. The eggs of the stormy petrel are surprisingly large, considering the diminutive size of the bird, being as large as those of the thrush. The female lays two eggs, of a dirty or dingy white, encircled at the larger end by a ring of fine rust-coloured freckles. The birds merely collect a few pieces of dried gra.s.s, with a feather or two, barely sufficient to prevent the eggs from rolling or moving on the rock."

The Cormorant.

The Common Cormorant is familiar all round the coast of England, and will even sometimes venture inland or at any rate up the mouths of rivers. Captain Brown mentions one that, many years ago, was seen resting upon the vane of St. Martin's steeple, Ludgate Hill, London; and was shot in the presence of a large number of people. It is a voracious bird and shows great dexterity in the catching and swallowing of fish, turning them round so as to swallow them head foremost, in order to avoid the resistance of the fins and spines. Colonel Montague had one, caught in a tributary of the Bristol Channel, by a Newfoundland dog, which at first refused food but offered no resistance to being crammed. "The Colonel having retired to the library after seeing the bird fed," says Captain Brown, "was surprised in a few minutes to see it walk boldly into the room, unceremoniously place itself by him at the side of the fire, and begin to dress its feathers. This practice it continued till removed to an aquatic menagerie. Whenever it saw the water it became restless, and on being set at liberty, plunged into it, and incessantly dived for a considerable time in search of fish. After this, it seemed to be convinced that there were none to be found there, as it was not noticed to dive again for three days."

The Albatross.

The great Albatross is a large and powerful bird, measuring three feet in length and having a stretch of wing of from nine to twelve or fourteen feet. It is a heavy bird, and needs great strength to sustain its weight during its long and rapid flights. Mrs. Bowdich says, "One was known to follow a s.h.i.+p, which made two hundred miles a day, for forty-eight hours; and besides these miles, from its irregular flight, it must have pa.s.sed over a much longer distance. The Albatross darts with unerring aim and great force on its prey, as it swims on the top of the waves. A man who fell overboard near the island of St. Paul's was killed by these birds; for, although the boat was lowered immediately, nothing was found of him except his hat, pierced through and through by the beaks of three albatrosses, who had marked him, pecked him on the head, and caused him to sink." Their flight is easy and apparently performed without effort and with an almost imperceptible movement of wing. The Albatross is easily caught from the stern of a s.h.i.+p with a hook. Mr. Wood says: "It seems rather remarkable that a bird that lives in or over the sea during its whole life, should prove a landsman when taken on board. Yet, when the Albatross is caught and placed on deck, it begins to stagger about, and soon becomes as thoroughly sea sick as the most inexperienced c.o.c.kney." Mr. Earl thus describes the haunt of the Albatross in the heights of the Island of Tristan d'Acunha: "A death-like stillness prevailed in these high regions, and to my ear our voices had a strange unnatural echo, and I fancied our forms appeared gigantic, whilst the air was piercing cold. The prospect was altogether sublime, and filled the mind with awe. The huge Albatross here appeared to dread no interloper or enemy; for their young were on the ground completely uncovered, and the old ones were stalking around them."

The Pelican.

The Pelican is one of the largest of swimming birds. It is distinguished by the possession of a pouch which is capable of holding two gallons of water, and which it uses for the purposes of catching fish, and feeding its young. In this latter operation the bird presses its pouch which hangs beneath its beak, against its breast, and so disgorges its contents. This action is said to have given rise to the fable that pelicans pluck nourishment from their own b.r.e.a.s.t.s to feed their young.

The Pelican belongs to the South and East of Europe and the North of Africa.

A Tame Pelican.

Mr. Hill, of St. Domingo, gives an interesting account of a tame pelican which is quoted by Mrs. Bowdich. He says:--"The facility with which the pelican resigns itself to fasting or feasting, was very interestingly exhibited to me in a bird I saw the other day at Pa.s.sage Fort. It was a pelican of mature age; it flew backwards and forwards, visiting the wild flocks, and feeding with them in the harbour during the day, and withdrew from them to roost in its master's yard during the night. In that period of restraint, when it was necessary to observe the caution of drawing its quill feathers, to keep it within diminished capabilities of flight, until it became familiar and domesticated, it was wholly dependent on the fish provided for it by the fishermen of the beach.

Sunday was no fis.h.i.+ng day with these men; and this was, therefore, a day in which there were no supplies for the pelican. It became, in time, so conscious of the recurrence of this fast-day, that although, at all other times, it went daily down to the sea-side to wait the coming in of the canoes, on the seventh day it never stirred from the inc.u.mbent trunk of a tree, on which it roosted, within the yard. It had been found necessary to pluck its wings within the last two or three months, to restrain it within bounds, in consequence of its absence latterly with the wild birds, for several days in succession, and in this state it was reduced, as formerly, to depend on the fishermen for food. The old habit of abstinence and drowsy repose on the Sundays again recurred, and when I saw it, it was once more a tranquil observer of the rest, and with it the fast, of the Sabbath-day."

The Penguin.

The Penguin belongs to South America, Australia, New Zealand and the Cape of Good Hope. There are a number of species; the Jacka.s.s Penguin, so called from the peculiarity of its cry, the King Penguin of the South Pacific, and the Cape Penguin of Cape Horn, the largest of the penguins, being the princ.i.p.al varieties. Mr. Darwin in describing the Jacka.s.s penguin says:--"In diving, its little plumeless wings are used as fins, but on the land _as front legs_. When crawling (it may be said on four legs) through the tussocks, or on the side of a gra.s.sy cliff, it moved so very quickly that it might readily have been mistaken for a quadruped. When at sea and fis.h.i.+ng, it comes to the surface, for the purpose of breathing, with such a spring, and dives again so instantaneously, that I defy any one at first sight to be sure that it is not a fish leaping for sport." The penguin is a courageous bird, and will not hesitate to attack a man. Mr. Darwin when on the Falkland Islands, placed himself between one of the Patagonian penguins and the water, and till it reached the sea, it regularly fought and drove him backwards. It stood close before him, erect and determined, and every inch gained it firmly kept. Nothing less than heavy blows would have stopped it.

The Puffin.