Waterton seems more inclined to attribute their untimely
end to the stupidity of a Hull custom-house officer, who sent the hamper
containing them jolting in a truck without springs over the rough pavement
to the custom-house, only to be peremptorily sent back, as not liable to
duty, by another of the same genus. "The two ganders, bereft of their
connubial comforters, seemed to take their misfortunes sorely to heart for
some time, till at last they began to make advances for permission to
enter into the company of the Canadian geese. These good birds did not
hesitate to receive them; and from that time these two very distinct
species of geese (one being only half the size of the other) have become
inseparable companions." The confederacy of these distant relations led,
however, to some unexpected results, which are related by Mr Waterton with
inimitable quaintness. On returning from Italy in the autumn of 1841, he
was informed by the keeper that a left-handed marriage had been struck up
between one of the little ganders and a pinioned Canadian goose, the
produce of which had been five addle eggs. "Had he told me that the
income-tax is a blessing, and the national debt an honour to the country,
I could more readily have believed him, than that a Canada goose had been
fool enough to unite herself to a Bernacle gander. Nevertheless, the man
persisted in what he affirmed; and I told the story to others, and nobody
believed me." The breeding-season of 1842 proved, however, the truth of
the story; but the oddly-matched couple were again disappointed in their
hopes of a family--the eggs all proving addle. The third year saw the
persevering pair again engaged in incubation: "and nothing could exceed
the assiduity with which the little Bernacle stood guard, often on one
leg, over his bulky partner. If any body approached the place, his
cackling was incessant; he would run at him with the fury of a
turkey-cock; he would jump up at his knees, and not desist in his
aggressions till the intruder had retired. There was something so
remarkably disproportionate betwixt this goose and gander, that I gave to
this the name of Mopsus, and to that the name of Nisa:[12] ... the whole
affair appeared to me one of ridicule and bad taste; and I was quite
prepared for a termination similar to that of the two preceding years,
when behold! to my utter astonishment, out came two young ones, the
remainder of the five eggs being addle. The vociferous ges