THE DOMESTIC GOOSE. 



ORIGIN AND HISTORY. 



A team of twenty geese, a snow-white train ! 

 Fed near the limpid lake with golden grain, 

 Amuse my pensive hours. 



POPE. 



THE domestication of the common goose, like that 

 of the domestic fowl, hides itself, as we pursue it, in 

 the remotest depths, and obscurest mists of ancient his- 

 tory. It has already been hinted that, by the Hebrews, 

 as by many modern naturalists, it would probably be 

 classed generically with the swan, and so be included 

 in their list of unclean birds. Among the Greeks and 

 Romans, it seems to have been the only really domesti- 

 cated water fowl they possessed ; and appears to have 

 held exactly the same place in their esteem, that it still 

 retains with us, after the lapse of two or three thous- 

 and years ! Indeed, a modern writer may escape great 

 part of the trouble of composing the natural history of 

 the domestic goose, if he will only collect the materials 

 that are scattered amongst ancient authors. A very 

 early notice of them occurs in Homer. Penelope, re- 

 lating her dream, says, " I have twenty geese at 

 home, that eat wheat out of water, and I am delighted 

 to look at them." 



The alarm given at the approach of the army of the 



