ANAS 



white, also the vent and tail-coverts : it 

 is often tamed, and will breed with the 

 common goose, producing a larger off- 

 spring 



Anas Anser, or tame goose. To de- 

 scribe the varied plumage and the econo- 

 my of this well known and valuable do- 

 mestic fowl, may seem to many a need- 

 less task ; but to others, unacquainted 

 with rural affairs, it may be interesting. 

 Their predominant colours are white and 

 grey, with shades of ash, blue, and brown : 

 -some of them are yellowish, others dusky, 

 and many arc found to differ very little 

 in appearance from the wild kind last de- 

 scribed the original stock, whence, in 

 early times, they were all derived. The 

 only permanent mark, which all the grey 

 ones still retain, like those of the wild 

 kind, is the white ring which surrounds 

 the root of the tail. They are generally 

 furnished with a small tuft on the head, 

 and the most usual colour of the males 

 (.gander or stig) is pure white : the bills 

 and feet in both males and females are of 

 an orange red. By studied attention in 

 the breeding, two sorts of these geese 

 have been obtained : the less are by many 

 esteemed as being more delicate eating : 

 the larger are by others preferred, on ac- 

 count of the bountiful appearance they 

 make upon the festive board. The ave- 

 rage weight of the latter kind is between 

 nine and fifteen pounds; but instances 

 are not wanting, where they have been 

 fed to upwards of twenty pounds ; this is, 

 however, to sacrifice the flavour of the 

 food to the size and appearance of the 

 bird, for they become disgustingly fat and 

 surfeiting, and the methods used to cram 

 them up are unnatural and cruel. It is 

 not, however, altogether on account of 

 their use as food that they are valuable ; 

 their feathers, their down, and their quills, 

 have long been considered as articles of 

 more importance, and from which their 

 owners reap more advantages. In this 

 respect the poor creatures have not been 

 spared : urged by avarice, their inhuman 

 masters appear to have ascertained the ex- 

 act quantity of plumage of which they can 

 bearto be robbed, withoutbeingdeprived 

 of life. Mr. Pennant, in describing the 

 methods used in Lincolnshire, in breeding, 

 rearing, and plucking geese, says, "they 

 are plucked five times in the year; first 

 at Lady-day for the feathers and quills : 

 this business is renewed, for the feathers 

 only, four times more between that and 

 Michaelmas-" he adds, that he saw the 

 operation performed even upon goslings 

 of six weeks old, from which the feathers 



of the tails were plucked ; and that num- 

 bers of the geese die when the season af- 

 terwards proves cold. But this unfeeling 

 greedy business is not peculiar to one 

 country, for much the same is practised 

 in others. The care and attention bestow- 

 ed upon the brood geese, while they are 

 engaged in the business of incubation, in 

 the month of April, is nearly the same 

 every where ; wicker pens are provided 

 for them, placed in rows, and tier above 

 tier, not uncommonly under the same 

 roof as their owner. Some place water 

 and corn near the nests ; others drive 

 them to the water twice a day, and replace 

 each female upon her own nest as soon as 

 she returns. This business requires the 

 attendance of the gozzard (goose-herd) a 

 month at least, in which time the young 

 are brought forth : as soon afterwards as 

 the brood are able to waddle along, they 

 are, together with their dams, driven to 

 the contiguous loughs and fens, or marsh- 

 es, on whose grassy margined pools they 

 feed and thrive, without requiring any 

 further attendance until the autumn. To 

 these marshes, which otherwise would be 

 unoccupied, (except by wild birds,) and 

 be only useless watery wastes, we are 

 principally indebted for so great a supply 

 of the goose ; for in almost every country, 

 where lakes and marshes abound, the 

 neighbouring inhabitants keep as many as 

 suit their convenience ; and in this way 

 immense numbers annually attain to full 

 growth and perfection ; but in no part of 

 the world are such numbers reared, as in 

 the fens of Lincolnshire, where it is said 

 to be no uncommon thing for a single per- 

 son to keep a thousand old geese, each of 

 which, on an average, will bring up seven 

 young ones. So far those only are no- 

 ticed which may properly be called the 

 larger flocks, by which particular watery 

 districts are peopled ; and, although their 

 aggregate numbers are great, yet they 

 form only a part of the large family : those 

 of the farm-yard, taken separately, appear 

 as small specks on a great map ; but 

 when they are gathered together, and 

 added to those kept by almost every cot- 

 tager throughout the kingdom, the im- 

 mense whole will appear multiplied in a 

 ratio almost incalculable. A great part of 

 those whicli are left to provide for them- 

 serves during the summer, in the solitary 

 distant waters, as well as those which en- 

 liven the village green, are put into the 

 stubble fields after harvest, to fatten upon 

 the scattered g-rain : and some are penned 

 up for this purpose, by which they attain 

 to greater bulk ; and it is hardly necessa- 



