DOMESTIC WATER FOWL GEESE. 253 



milk, or a little barley-meal, &c. Where this is done, 

 they should, however, always be put under the Goose 

 again, immediately after such feeding, and handled as 

 little as possible, warmth in this stage being the most 

 essential article in rearing them. They should never 

 be suffered, while very young, to go into the water, as 

 the cold soon destroys them. 



" The practice in Lincolnshire, where vast numbers 

 of these birds are annually produced, is for their nests 

 to be made for them of straw, and confined, so as that 

 the eggs cannot roll out when the Geese turn them, 

 which they do every day. When near hatching, the 

 shell is broken a little against the beak or nib of the 

 Gosling, to give air, or to enable it to receive strength 

 to throw off the shell at a proper time. 



" The time of plucking them is about the beginning 

 of April, when the fine feathers of their breasts and 

 backs should be gently and carefully plucked. Care 

 must be taken not to pull or interrupt their down or 

 pen feathers. 



" The quills should be pulled five out of a wing. 

 They will bear pulling in thirteen or fourteen weeks 

 again, or twice in a year: the feathers three times 

 a-year, of the old Geese and Ganders, seven weeks from 

 each pulling. The young Geese may be pulled once at 

 thirteen or fourteen weeks old, but not quilled, being 

 hatched in March. But when late in hatching, the 

 brood Geese should not be plucked so soon as April, 



