GEESE. 335 



in the shape of quills and feathers, exclusive of the body, con- 

 sidered as an article of food, as a source of profit to them 

 almost as great as the shepherd derives from his flocks and 

 herds. These Geese are reared and protected with a care and 

 attention of which those who have not witnessed it can form 

 no conception. 



It may, indeed, be doubted whether, under certain circum- 

 stances, Geese, in a profitable point of view, may not be con- 

 sidered as nearly equal to sheep. The latter, it is true, furnish 

 a lucrative trade to weavers and manufacturers, as well as the 



The Goose. 



farmer who feeds them. But the Goose affords no small item 

 in the ledger of the upholsterer and the stationer, as well as 

 the poulterer, in addition to thousands of acres of marsh land, 

 which, but for this useful bird, would remain for ever worth- 

 less, or, at best, supply a scanty and precarious pittance. A 

 slight sketch of the mode of managing a flock in Lincolnshire 

 may not be uninteresting. A single person will keep a 

 thousand old Geese, each of which will rear seven ; so that, at 

 the end of the year, if fortunate in rearing, he will be possessed 

 of seven thousand. During the breeding season, these birds 

 are lodged in the same houses with their owners, and even in 



