574 



GREY LAG GOOSE. Class If. 



ally, and promife, from the appearance of their plu- 

 mage, to furnilli a warm and fofc feather; but we 

 have lately been informed, that ibme unfuccefsful 

 trials have been made at Glafgow: a gentleman who 

 had made a voyage to the weftern ides, and 

 brought fome of the feathers home with a laudable 

 defign of promoting the trade of our own country, 

 attempted to render them lit for ufe, firft by bak- 

 ing, then by boiling them ; but their flench was 

 fo offenfive, that the Glafgow people could not be 

 prevaled on to leave off their correfpondence with 

 Dantzhk. The difagreeable fmell of thefe feathers 

 mud be owing to the quantity of oil that all water 

 fowls ufe from the glandules of their rump to pre- 

 ferve and fmooth their feathers ; and as fea birds 

 mud expend more of this unction than other water 

 fowl, being almoft perpetually on that element, 

 and as their food is entirely fifh, that oil mud re- 

 ceive a great ranknefs, and communicate it to the 

 plumage, fo as to render it abfolutely unfit for 

 ufe. 



VOVQ 



