250 SKETCHES OP RURAL AFFAIRS. 



No attempt should be made to feed the goslings for 

 twelve hours after they are hatched. Their food may 

 then be bread soaked in milk, curds, or mealy potatoes 

 mixed with bran, and not given too hot. A sunny and 

 sheltered spot should be chosen for them. Gold winds 

 and rain at that tender age will quickly destroy them. 

 It is not safe to allow them access to water for the first 

 day or two. 



Geese are the noisiest of poultry ; their loud gab- 

 blings on the least alarm are, perhaps as good a pro- 

 tection to the farm-yard as the barking of dogs. By 

 giving the alarm to the Romans, and thus saving Rome 

 from being captured by the Gauls, they became greatly 

 venerated by that superstitious people. Our ordinary 

 breed of Geese is likely to be much improved by the 

 introduction of a remarkably fine species from the 

 shores of the Mediterranean, and also of some hand- 

 some birds from China. 



Nowhere in this country are geese kept in greater 

 numbers than in the fens of Lincolnshire, where they 

 are reared for the sake of their feathers. They are 

 stripped once or twice a year for their quills, and five 

 times a year for their feathers, namely, at Lady-day, 

 Midsummer, Lammas, Michaelmas, and Martinmas. It 

 is said that in fine weather the birds do not generally 

 suffer from this process, but if cold sets in about the 

 time of the opei'ation, numbers of them die. The old 

 birds submit very quietly to be plucked, but the young 

 ones are veiy noisy and unruly. Tame geese, wheji kept 

 with a view to their eggs, and unmolested by plucking, 

 &c., will live to a great age, even, it is said, to eighty 

 years or more. But few indeed are the instances where 

 the bird is permitted to live out its natural term of days. 



The TURKEY, in its wild state, is an extremely beau- 

 tiful bird, of the most brilliant plumage, a native of 

 America, whence it is supposed we received our tame 

 variety about the year 1530. The best of our Turkeys 

 are black, but there are varieties in colour from bronze 



