Book VII. 



THE GOOSE. 



loos 



looking through the fence at different places (4, 5, 61 to frighten them forward. At the end of the cana! 

 is a tunnel net (, , where the birds are finally taken. In operating with this trap, as the wild duck is a 

 very shy bird, and delights in retirement, the first step is to endeavour to make the given water a peaceful 

 asylum, by guttering the ducks to rest on it undisturbed. The same love of concealment leads them to he 

 ptrtial to waters whose margins abound with underwood and aquatic plants; hence if the civen water is 

 not already furnished with these appendages, they must be provided ; for it is not retirement alone w Inch 

 leads them into these recesses, but a search alter food also. At certain times of the day. when wild fowl 

 are off their feed they are equally delighted with a smooth grassy margin, to adjust and oil their plumage 

 upon. On the close-pastured margins of large waters, frequented bv wild fowl, hundreds mav be seen 

 amusing themselves in this way j and perhaps nothing draws them sooner to a water than a convenience 

 of this kind: hence it becomes essentially necessary to success, to provide a grassy, shelving smooth 

 shaven bank U) at the mouth of the decoy, in or.ler to draw the fowl, not onlv to the water at large hut 

 to the desired part of it. Having, by these means, allured them to the mouth of the decoy : the dirncul 

 ties that remain are, those of getting them off the bank into the water, without taking wing, and of 

 leading them up the canal to the snare which is set for them in the most easy manner. 



7a<)9. In order to get them off the bank into the water, a dog is necessary (the more like a fox the better 1 

 which should steal from behind the skreen of reeds, (2, 2,) which is placed by the side of the canal to hide 

 the decoy-man as well as his dog, until the signal be given. On seeing the dog, the ducks rush into the 

 water ; where the wild fowl consider themselves as sale from the enemy which had assailed them, and of 

 course do not take wing Among the wild fowl, a parcel (perhaps eight or ten) of decoy-ducks should he 

 mixed, which will probably be instrumental in bringing them, with greater confidence, to the bank As 

 soon as these are in the water, they make for the decoy, at the head of which thev have been constantly 

 ted, and m which they have always found an asylum from the dog. The wild ducks follow : while the dog 

 keeps driving behind; and, by that means, takes oft' their attention from the trap thev are entering 

 When, as soon as the decoy-man, who is all the while observing the operation through peep-holes in the 

 reed skreeii, sees the entire shoal under a canopy net which covers and encloses the upper part of the 

 canal, he shows himself, when the wild fowl instantly take wing, but their wings meeting with an imper 

 vious net, instead of a natural canopy, formed of reeds and bulrushes, thev fall again into the water and 

 being afraid to recede, the man being close behind them, they push forward into the tail of the tunnel 

 net, which terminates the decoy. In this way, nine dozen have been caught at a time. 



75 , 10 ' The f°r™ °- f the V^Pe or canal ought to resemble the outlet of a natural brook, or a natural inlet or 

 creek of the principal water. The mouth ought to be spacious, and free from confinement, that the wild 

 Jowl, on their first rushing into the water, and while thev have yet the power of recollection, mav be in 

 duced to begin to follow the tame ducks ; and for the same purpose it ought to be crooked, that its inward 

 narrowness, and the nets, may not, in the first instance, be perceived. The lower part of a French horn 

 is considered as the best form of the canal of a decoy that can be had. A materia! circumstance remains 

 yet to be explained. It is the invariable nature of wild fowl to take wing with their heads towards the 

 wind; and it is always imprudent to attempt to take them in a decoy, unless the wind blow down the pipe ■ 



would with greater difficulty be driven into the tunnel. This point is so well known by decoy-men in 

 general, that every decoy is, when circumstances will admit of it, furnished with three or four different 

 canals, pointing to distinct quarters of the horizon, that no opportunity may be lost on account of the 

 wino being in any particular point 



751 1. The goose ( J'nas ^'nser L.,fg. 941.) is a native of Britain, and most parts of 

 the north of Europe, but less common than the duck. 



7512. The flesh of the common and various species of geese is 

 highly stimulant, strong in flavour, viscous, and of a putrescent 

 tendency. The flesh of the tame goose is more tender than that 

 of the wild, which tastes offish ; but either kind is oulv adapted 

 for good stomachs, and powerful digestion, and should' be spar. 

 ingly used by the sedentary and weak, or persous subject tu cu- 

 taneous diseases. The fat of the goose is reckoned peculiarly 

 subtle, penetrating, and resolvent, and is generally carefully 

 preserved for domestic applications. The goose attains to a great 

 age, well authenticated instances being on record to the extent 

 of seventy and eighty years. The best geese in England are 

 probably lobe found on the borders of Suffolk and Norfolk, and 

 in Berkshire; but the greatest numbers are in Lincolnshire, 

 whence they are sent in droves to London to be led by the 

 poulterers, some of whom fatten in the vicinity of the metro- 

 polis above five thousand in a season. 



7)13. Of varieties and species there are several, the former 

 differing in colour, as black, white, and grev, and also in size. 

 There is also the Spanish white goose, and large white Embden 

 goose, the latter in most esteem. When one has seen a wild 

 goose, says Pennant, a description of its plumage will, to a feather, exactly correspond with any other • 

 but in the tame kinds, no two of any species are exactly alike ; different in their size, their colours and 

 frequently in their general form, they seem the mere creatures of art ; and having been so long dependent 

 upon man for support, they seem to assume forms entirely suited to his necessities. 



751+ There is a Chintsc species {A. cygnoides), and an American goose [A. canadensis). The Chinese 

 species is a domestic bird, but as yet little known in this country. It is longer and narrower in the body 

 than the common goose, and stands higher on the legs. The Canadian goose is dome.-ticated in several 

 places, and is not considered uncommon in England It is the most ornamental of the goose kind on water 

 n> pleasure-grounds, and is abundant in the Duke of Devonshire's park at Chiswick. 



7515. Breeding. One gander is generally put to five geese : the goose lavs from eleven to fifteen cgs ■ 

 and the period of incubation is from twenty-seven to thirty days. A nest should be prepared as soon as 

 the female begins to carry straw in her bill, and by other tokens declares her readiness to lav. This is 

 generally in March, and sometimes two broods are produced within the season; an advantage obtainable 

 by high feeding through the winter with sound corn, End on the commencement of the breeding season 

 allowing them boiled barley, malt, fresh grains, and fine pollard mixed up with ale or ether stimulants. A 

 good gander sits near his geese whilst they are sitting, and vigilantly protects them. Feeding upon the 

 nest is seldom required ; and it is unnecessary to take any of the goslings from the mother as hatched; 

 but pen the goose and her brood at once upon dry grass well sheltered, putting them out late in the morn- 

 ing, or not at all in severe weather, and ever taking them in earlv in the evening. The first food may be 

 similar to that recommended for the duck, such as barley meal, bruised oats, or fine pollard, with some 

 cooling green vegetables, as cabbage or beet leaves intermixed. 



7516. Rearing. At first setting at liberty the pasturage of the goose should be limited ; otnerwise, if 

 allowed to range over an extensive common, the gulls or goslings will become tiled and crimped, and 

 some of them will fall behind and be lost. Mowbray advises to destroy all the hemlock and niphtsha'de in 



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