176 OUR DOIIESTIC FOWLS. 



consGcrated geese were kept in the temple of 

 Juno, and were well lodged and fed, still 

 swollen and diseased geese livers were in great 

 request ; and geese were plucked alive, for their 

 feathers were of as much use as in the present 

 day ; those of the white birds being especially 

 valuable. In some places the plucking occurred 

 tM'ice in the year. Great numbers of geese were 

 at certain seasons annually driven to Rome, 

 and, according to Pliny, some came from almost 

 incredible distances. " It is astonishing (he 

 says) that these birds will travel on foot from 

 the Morini* even to Rome. The tired ones 

 are put first, and the rest, by a natural crowd- 

 ing together, push them forward. The plu- 

 mage of the white ones is an additional source 

 of profit. They are plucked in some places 

 twice a year, and soon recover their feathers. 

 The down nearest the body is the softest, that 

 from Germany the most esteemed. There the 

 white ones, of inferior size, are called (janzce, 

 (modern German, gans, a goose ; gaas, Danish ; 

 gas, Swedish ; gander, English for the male.)f 

 Their feathers fetch five denarii a pound." 



* The Morini were a people of ancient Belgic Gaul, inhabiting 

 tlie territory around modern Calais, the Pays de Calais. 



t The gander is usually white, and though longer in the body 

 appears to be less bulky than the female. 



