THE DOMESTIC GOOSE 



coffin, which barely permits it to turn round, the 

 goose has only one distraction, eating. With food 

 served in abundance, it eats just for the pleasure of 

 it, and consumes so much that at the end of two 

 weeks it becomes a ball of fat. To get it out of its 

 cell the pot must be broken. 



"Elsewhere, especially in Alsace, the goose is 

 shut up in a little pine box so narrow that the bird 

 cannot turn round in it. The floor of the cell is made 

 of slats far enough apart for the dung to fall 

 through; the front wall is pierced with an opening 

 for the passage of the head, and beneath this open- 

 ing is a trough always full of water, in which are 

 placed a few pieces of charcoal as a disinfectant. 

 Charcoal, in fact, possesses the property of absorb- 

 ing infectious gases, and thus prevents the corrup- 

 tion that might develop in the bird's drink. The 

 captive in its narrow cage is kept in the cellar or at 

 least in a dark place. Morning and night it is 

 forcibly stuffed with corn softened by several hours ' 

 soaking in water; the rest of the time it thrusts its 

 head through its dormer-window and drinks, 

 dabbling as much as it pleases in the trough just 

 below. With twenty-five liters of corn for the 

 northern species is smaller than that of Toulouse 

 the goose, at the end of a month, is fattened suf- 

 ficiently. 



6 1 The presence of a ball of grease under each wing, 

 together with difficulty in breathing, announces that 

 the time has arrived for cutting the prisoner's 

 throat ; if deferred, it would die from suffocation. 



