THE DOMESTIC GOOSE 127 



effort. The goose is plucked, but not entirely, you 

 understand, beneath the stomach, on the neck, and on 

 the under side of the wings ; it is only when dead that 

 it is plucked completely. This harvest of feathers 

 is put into a bag without being pressed, and must 

 next be subjected for some time to the heat of an 

 oven from which bread has just been taken out. 

 This removes its disagreeable odor and the parasites 

 that often infest it. If, however, other parasites 

 appear later, notably moths, greedy, as you know, 

 for anything of animal origin, such as cloth, hair, 

 down, or wool, the feathers must be fumigated with 

 burning sulphur. 



' l The eggs of the goose are white and remarkably 

 large, as one would expect from the size of the bird. 

 When one sees, generally in February, a goose drag- 

 ging with its beak some bits of straw and carrying 

 them to its nesting place, it is a sign that laying time 

 is approaching. The goose is then kept at home 

 instead of being sent out into the fields. A laying 

 numbers fifteen eggs at the most ; but if care is taken 

 to visit the nest and remove the eggs as fast as they 

 are laid, the number increases and may go, it is said, 

 as high as forty. The goose has the same fault as 

 the duck: she is not a very assiduous brooder. 

 Hence it is thought best to have the turkey do the 

 setting. As for the hen, she is, despite her motherly 

 qualities, out of the question, however small the set- 

 ting may be : goose eggs are so large that she could 

 not cover more than half a dozen at the most. 



