236 FARMING FOR LADIES. [chap. xi. 



CHAPTER XI. 



Aquatic birds — The swan : its beauty and habits — Domesti- 

 cation — Wild geese — The domestic goose ; description and 

 terms of designation — Michaelmas-day — Choice of breed 

 — A lag — Laying ; nests ; and hatching — Gulls — Goslings 

 — Treatment — Fattening of green geese — Stubble and 

 Michaelmas geese. 



The web-footed, aquatic birds, which have 

 been domesticated, are the Swan, the Goose, 

 and the Duck, which, although each of a 

 separate race, yet bear a much nearer affinity 

 to each other than any other kinds of poultry. 

 The two latter are, however, the only species 

 now used as food in England; though for- 

 merly the swan was, on great occasions, 

 brought forward as a luxury, and in such high 

 esteem, that in the record of a splendid enter- 

 tainment given on the marriage of one of the 

 Nevilles in the time of Henry VHL, they were 

 charged at two shillings each, or eight times 

 the value of the goose. Originally natives 

 of the north, they all breed in the uninhabited 



