1 74 OUU DOMESTIC FOWLS. 



saw tills performed, and observed tliat goslings 

 of six weeks old were not spared, for tlieir 

 tails were plucked, as I was told, to habituate 

 them early to what they are to come to. If 

 the season prove cold, numbers of the geese 

 die by this barbarous custom. "When the 

 flocks are numerous, about ten pluckers are 

 employed, each with a coarse apron up to his 

 chin. Vast numbers of geese are driven annu- 

 ally to London, to supply the markets ; among 

 them are all the superannuated geese and 

 ganders, which, by a long course of plucking, 

 prove uncommonly tough and dry. The fea- 

 thers are a considerable article of commerce ; 

 those from Somersetshire are esteemed the 

 best, and those from Ireland the worst." 



Times have greatly changed since Pennant 

 wrote, and worthless geese find but little ac- 

 ceptance in the Loudon markets ; but the 

 system of plucking, which he describes as he 

 saw it practised in Scotland, is still continued, 

 and we believe on very nearly the same plan, 

 in many places. The annual mortality among 

 geese w^here this system prevails, as Lincoln- 

 shire and Ireland, is very gi-eat, and the birds 

 thp,t live through several operations, become 

 thin, feverish, and scarcely fit, or rather posi- 



