THE SWBIinNG, OR NATATORIAL GROUP. 169 



feathers, if pens were (hen but in small request, 

 were in perpetual demand for arrows and 

 cross-bow bolts. 



Though the domestic goose is very generally 

 kept by farmers and cottagers throughout 

 our island, yet, in particular counties, more 

 attention is paid to the management of large 

 flocks of these birds, with an express view to 

 profit, than in others. Lincolnshire, for ex- 

 ample, has been long celebrated for the multi- 

 tudes of geese kept in the fenny districts. In 

 Somersetshire, and also in some parts of Scot- 

 land, they are reared in great numbers. In 

 Lincolnshire, (in Pennant's,) a single person 

 frequently possessed a thousand adult geese, 

 each of which on an average reared seven gos- 

 lings, so that in the course of the season his 

 stock amounted to eight thousand. The same 

 observations will, more or less, apply to otlier 

 parts of the country in the present day. In 

 March, when the young geese are strong 

 enough to travel, large flocks are driven by 

 slow degrees from great distances to London, 

 where they meet ready purchasers, great num- 

 bers being brought up by professional feeders 

 of poultry, who fatten them for the poulterer, 

 or salesman, Oats, oatmeal, peas, milk, etc., 

 f3 



