THE DOMESTIC GOOSE. 215 



allowing more than eight under one roof. All damp 

 must be avoided, for geese at all times are fond of a 

 clean, dry place to sleep in, however much they may 

 like to swirn in water. It is not a good method to 

 keep geese with other poultry ; for when confined in 

 the poultry yard, they become very pugnacious, and 

 will very much harrass the hens and turkeys. 



Columella advises to pasture geese in marshy or 

 moist ground, and to sow for them vetches or tares, 

 mellilot, clover, and fenugreek, but more particularly 

 chiccory, and lettuce, of which, he says, they are very 

 fond. 



" Grrasse, says Markham, u they must necessarily 

 have, and the worst, and that which is the most use- 

 lesse, is the best, as that which is moorish and unsa- 

 voury for cattell." 



In allowing geese to range at large, it is requisite to 

 be aware that they are very destructive to all garden 

 and farm crops, as well as to young trees, and must, 

 therefore, be carefully excluded from orchards and 

 cultivated fields. It is usual to prevent them getting, 

 through the gaps in fences, by hanging a stick or 

 " yoke" across their breasts. 



If we traverse a pasture or common, on which geese 

 are kept, we find the flocks of the respective owners 

 keeping together, and if by chance they mingle on the 

 pond or sheet of water, they separate towards evening 

 and retire, each flock to its own domicile. On exten- 

 sive commons where many thousands of geese are 

 kept, this rule is scarcely ever broken ; the flocks of 

 young geese brought up together, as their parents were 

 before them, form a united band, and thus distinct 

 groups herd together, bound by the ties of habit. 



PAIRING-. 



IT was ascertained bv M. St. Grenis, of France, that 

 geese will pair like pigeons and partridges ; and in the 

 course of his experiments, he remarked, that, if the 

 number of the ganders exceed that of the geese by 



