Page:Amusing stories of animals.pdf/15

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15

flying when he runs. Young horses, when disturbed, very easily break into a gallop, and as the gander manages to keep so near the colt, that he may be seen flying vigorously alongside of him, it is certainly strange that it never occurred to him to take a ride. If the mouth of the other, while collecting provender, should come too near his feet, he stretches forth his neck, elevates his wings, hisses gently, and by other motions admonishes him to keep at a proper distance. Though geese graze as well as kine, the bird in question is rarely seen nibbling a pile of grass, and his chief dependance, we believe, is placed on the stray pickles of corn or caters in the stable. On one occasion, the young horses at Allanton were removed to a field at some distance, and then the poor gander had to dree a very dreary period of widowhood. If he could have spoken or sung, his ditty would have been, "I wander dowie a' my lane;" but when the colts returned—that is, the bay oneshe was seen hurrying to meet them, half running, half flying, and cackling forth his congratulations to the very topmost note of the gammut of joy. In April last, we happened to be at Allanton, and as a matter of course visited the goose of whose eccentric habits we had heard so much. A new scene then presented itself. In the course of the day, a score or two of capital highland bullocks had been let into the field, and these the gander seemed to look on with a very jaundiced eye. By mere accident one of them approached too near the favourite colt—an in-