378 GEESE. 



and Michaelmas, being for feathers only. The old 

 Geese submit with tolerable patience to this barbarous 

 operation, but the young ones are noisy and unruly. 

 Even goslings of six weeks old are not spared; their 

 tails being plucked, as it is said, to habituate them to 

 future plucking. 



When ready for the London market, flocks, from two 

 to nine thousand in number, are sent off, travelling 

 slowly from three in the morning until nine at night, 

 during which time they will accomplish, on an average, 

 about eight or ten miles. 



Those who live near commons can turn the rearing of 

 a few Geese to good account, and might reap still greater 

 advantages if they paid due attention. If well kept, a 

 Goose will lay not far short of one hundred eggs a year. 

 The French, who understand the management of poultry 

 much better than we do, put their Goose-eggs under 

 large hens of common fowls, in the proportion of from 

 four to five eggs to each ; and under Turkeys, to which 

 they give nine or ten. When the Goslings are hatched, 

 they are kept in a warm place for about four or five days, 

 and fed on barley-meal, mixed, if possible, with milk, 

 and then they will begin to graze. 



Thus much for the attention due to the Goose for its 

 pecuniary worth; but beyond this, it has qualities, we 

 might almost say, of the mind, of a very singular cha- 

 racter : we mean, the unaccountable constancy and affec- 

 tion which it has been known to show not only to its 

 own species, and to other birds and animals, but more 

 particularly to man. And it is not improbable, that 

 these qualities, which, as we shall soon show, were known 

 to the ancients, might have rendered it an object of high 

 esteem, and even in some cases sacred, as, for instance, 

 it was to Juno, the queen of their idol gods. In addi- 

 tion to which it has other qualifications, proving the 

 fallacy of the proverbial libel, " as silly as a Goose." 

 Thus, its watchfulness at night-time has always been 

 noted, and it certainly is endowed with a strong organ 



