season of 1846. Three Ganders of the four appeared to think that each Goose, except his own, was at liberty to be unfaithful; and that every Gander, except himself, was wrong in committing an infidelity. What with their jealousies before laying time, and their quarrels after it, with plenty of eggs, we did not get a single Gosling of any sort throughout the whole summer.

THE WIGEON.

"If any one thinks that it is unsuitable for a great and grave man to write about birds and the things pertaining to them, he appears to me to blunder extremely, and, as they say, to have quite lost his road. Illiberal and sordid is the mind of those, who despise those pursuits, and labour at such sciences alone as are profitable to the household merely, and who look everywhere after utility and gain; truly they may be compared to Æsop's cock, who preferred a grain of barley to the jewel he had found, because he was ignorant of the use of the jewel. Since, therefore, according to Aristotle, there is no animal so little, so abject, that we cannot see in it something rare, recondite, even (so to speak) something of the Divinity, so also the knowledge of birds, which are perfect animals, and worthy of admiration, is not to be rejected with contempt, but is to be embraced by every one according to his powers."-ULYSSIS ALDROVANDI Præfatio.

Ir must already have appeared that the object of these essays is not merely to give some account of such birds as are usually domesticated with us, but also to endeavour to indicate others which there is a reasonable hope of rendering subject to the rule of Man, and available to his use. But it is only after much patience and many trials that we can expect to enslave and attach to ourselves any creatures hitherto wild and unsubdued. Even then failures will occur; but I think there are principles that may guide us in choosing the most likely subjects for our experiments, which the following account of my very limited dealings with the Wigeon may serve to illustrate.

When a species of bird or animal has been for many generations, perhaps for many hundred years, in the neighbourhood, within the view, and under the partial care of Man, and yet cannot be made to lose its innate shyness, and to prefer the plenty and comfort of domes

tication to a wild and unrestrained mode of life, there is little hope that further attempts on our part will have any effect in bringing such creatures into closer intimacy with us. The Water-hen and the Pheasant are two sufficient instances among birds, the zebra appears to be one among quadrupeds. But if, in an untried race, we find an attached, confiding, and intelligent disposition, hopes of success may then be entertained, in spite of great apparent difficulties. One which would appear to be a bar to all reasonable hope of domestication, is the migratory instinct. But it is not so. The tame Duck is popularly and hitherto undoubtingly believed to be descended from the Mallard, which twice a-year crosses the northern seas. One or two species of Geese have been tempted to prefer the luxuries of home and the friendship of man to their former periodical voyages through the clouds; and there cannot be a more settled quiet creature than the common Goose, which is said, with what probability we shall discuss hereafter, to be the offspring of some one or two of these restless varieties. It is not for want of means of escape that the dove-house Pigeon does not betake itself to its native rocks; for it is said occasionally to come in the morning from the Low Countries to the Norfolk coast to feed on certain crops, and return home in the afternoon; and an excursion across the Wash of Lincolnshire is merely an agreeable trip for exercise. Even the sheep is to this day a migratory animal." In Spain the number of migratory sheep (Merinos) is calculated at ten millions. Their whole

journey is usually more than 400 miles. It is necessary to exert great vigilance over the flocks during the last three or four days, for the animals are eager to start away, and often great numbers of them make their escape.' The sheep of the patriarchs were probably not free from a similar roving disposition. And therefore the circumstance that a bird visits in the Arctic Circle, or now and then performs flights of 2000 or 3000 miles, is less

Youatt on Sheep, p. 151.

opposed to the possibility of its being domiciled in our court-yards than if it haunted the very shrubbery before our windows, displaying at the same time a certain shyness, flightiness, suspiciousness of temper, well known to the observant naturalist, that coquets with the authority of Man, but will never yield to it. It may be said that such untameables are wise; that if we took them under our protection, it would only be to kill and eat them. But though we may devour the individuals, we multiply and perhaps preserve the species. Were the Turkey as wild and irreclaimable as the Bustard, it would soon be as rare and as likely to be obliterated from the list of existing species. What a pity, then, it is that we cannot, before it be too late, rescue, by domestication, some of those curious Australian birds and animals, whose extinction from the face of the earth Mr. Darwin, we may fear, so truly predicts in his "Voyage of the Beagle round the World."*

The Wigeon is a migratory bird, arriving here in the autumn. A friend, the owner of a decoy, sent me a couple that had just arrived. I cannot call them a pair, because, being taken from a large flock, they might possibly have no more acquaintance with each other than a gentlemen in the pit of the Opera need have with any given lady in the boxes. After peeping into the hamper, we were going to turn them out into an inclosed yard to have a better view of them, when an acquaintance who was present suggested that they were not pinioned. The

"A few years since this country abounded with wild animals; but now the Emu is banished to a long distance, and the kangaroo is become scarce; to both the English greyhound has been highly destructive. It may be long before these animals are altogether exterminated, but their doom is fixed. The aborigines are always anxious to borrow the dogs from the farm-houses; the use of them, the offal when an animal is killed, and some milk from the cows, are the peace-offerings of the settlers, who push farther and farther towards the interior. The thoughtless aboriginal, blinded by these trifling advantages, is delighted at the approach of the white man, who seems predestined to inherit the country of his children."-Journal, second Edition, page 441. See also Dr. Ernest Dieffenbach's Travels in New Zealand.

operation was performed. They each uttered a faint cry, looking at us imploringly with their large, clear, intelligent eyes. This was no hospitable reception. They were then put under a hen-coop on the lawn, within two or three yards of the living-room window, and supplied with corn and water. We were constantly looking at them, and shifting their coop to a fresh patch of grass. They did not then allow us to see them eat, but there is no doubt that in the night they made up for the partial abstinence of the day. After a week's confinement in this way, I thought it time to give them greater freedom, by inclosing a small square with wicker hurdles on an island that I wished to become their future haunt, and by removing them there. In a day or two the female had disappeared; but how? Some railway navies at work close by were at first suspected; quite unjustly, I believe ; but the hen Wigeon was never after seen or heard of. A few of the web-footed birds have the faculty of climbing up perpendicular surfaces, which would hardly be expected from their conformation, and it is most likely that the escape was thus effected. The horizontal twigs composing the hurdles would easily be laid hold of by her claws and bill. A fence of reeds placed uprightly confines water birds much more securely. Mr. Swainson quotes a feat of climbing performed by the Gargeney Duck, and Audubon relates the following still more curious instance.

"A dozen or more (young Wood Ducks) were placed in empty flour barrels, and covered over for some hours, with a view of taming them the sooner. Several of these barrels were placed in the yard, but whenever I went and raised their lids, I found all the little ones hooked by their sharp claws to the very edge of their prison, and the instant that room was granted, they would tumble over and run in all directions. I afterwards frequently saw these young birds rise from the bottom to the brim of a cask by moving a few inches at a time up the side, and fixing foot after foot by means of their diminutive hooked claws, which, in passing over my hand, I found to have.