AQUATIC FOWLS. 



263 



their return from the fields, some corn at the 

 bottom of a vessel full of clear water ; in order 

 to eat it, they are obliged to plunge their head 

 in the water, which compels the insects to fly 

 and leave their prey. 



PLUCKING. 



Mr. Dixon's advice, that " Geese as well as 

 ducks should be let out to the pond a few hours 

 before execution, where they will purify and ar- 

 range their feathers, as if they were going to 

 their wedding instead of their death," should 

 always be followed. The bird is more easily 

 plucked, and the feathers are more valuable. 

 Decapitation is the mode of death generally 

 adopted ; but as this might injure the appear- 

 ance of the bird for sale, other modes, less in- 

 stantaneous, and also less merciful, are had re- 

 course to. To aid plucking, the goose is often 

 placed immediately after death in boiling water; 

 but the appearance of the skin is more or less 

 injured by that mode, therefore dry picking 

 should be always had recourse to. The fat taken 

 from the intestines of a goose, and converted 

 into an oil, becomes a medicine of great repu- 

 tation, and is considered highly efficacious to 

 human as well as animal systems. 



Old, or what are termed stock-geese, may be 

 plucked three, and in some seasons four times, 

 allowing six weeks' interval, without inconven- 

 ience. Many are of opinion that it was directly 

 injuring the health of geese to pluck them. This 

 operation, however, if done in a dextrous man- 

 ner, and taking place before the moulting sea- 

 son, a disease common to all birds, is followed 

 by no inconvenience. One crop of feathers may 

 be taken from the goslings, and some think it 

 an advantage to them, but that could hardly be 

 expected ; and it should be deferred till the gos- 

 lings are three months old before they are sub- 

 jected to this operation, especially to those in- 

 tended to be killed early, as they would get 

 lean, and lose some of their good qualities. 

 Precaution should be taken when the goslings 

 are just plucked not to suffer them to go into 

 the water, but merely give them drink for one 

 or two days till the skin is closed. Food has a 

 j^reat influence over the quality of the down and 

 feathers, as also the care that is taken of the 



geese. Great precaution is necessary ; the feath- 

 ers always bring away with them a kind of fat, 

 which would give them a disagreeable smell, 

 and perhaps spoil, if this was not prevented by 

 putting them in the oven after the bread is 

 taken out, and keeping them in a dry, airy place. 

 One pound of feathers is generally estimated to 

 be the produce of a common goose ; the Bremen 

 and African will give more, and of a superior 

 quality. None but feathers taken from live 

 geese, or those just killed, should be carried to 

 market ; in the last instance they must be picked 

 before the bird is entirely cold ; the feathers are 

 infinitely better for it. 



On the subject of plucking the living geese 

 we would willingly be silent ; for the torture ex- 

 perienced by the poor fowl from the too frequent 

 unskillfulness and want of dexterity of the oper- 

 ator must be excruciating. The skin and flesh 

 are sometimes so torn as to occasion the death 

 of the victim ; and even when the geese are 

 plucked in the most careful manner they lose 

 their flesh and appetite ; their eyes become dull, 

 their wings heavy, and drag on the ground, and 

 they languish in a most pitiable state during a 

 longer or shorter period. Great mortality often 

 occurs in flocks of geese, from sudden and im- 

 prudent exposure to cold, after being stripped, 

 and more especially during severe storms and 

 sudden atmospheric vicissitudes. 



A writer in one of the magazines remarks 

 humanely on the cruelty of picking geese, and 

 proposes the following remedy : " Feathers are 

 of but a year's growth, and in the moulting sea- 

 son they spontaneously fall off, and are supplied 

 by a fresh fleece. When, therefore, the geese 

 are in full feather, let the plumage be removed, 

 very close to the skin, by sharp scissors, clipping 

 them off as sheep are shorn ; they will be re- 

 newed at moulting in the usual course of na- 

 ture. The produce would not be much reduced 

 in quantity, while the quality would be greatly 

 improved, and an indemnification be experi- 

 enced in the consciousness of not having tor- 

 tured the poor bird, and in the uninjured health 

 of the fowl, and the benefit obtained in the suc- 

 ceeding crop. After this operation shall have 

 been performed, the down from the breast may 

 be removed bv the same means." 



