240 BRITISH BIRDS. 



at Lady-day for the feathers and quills ; this busi- 

 ness is renewed for the feathers only, four times 

 more between that and Michaelmas:" he adds, that 

 he saw the operation performed even upon Goslings 

 of six weeks old, from which the feathers of the 

 tails were plucked ; and that numbers of the Geese 

 die when the season afterwards proves cold. But 

 this unfeeling greedy business is not peculiar to 

 one county, for much the same is practised in 

 others. The care and attention bestowed upon the 

 brood Geese, while they are engaged in the busi- 

 ness of incubation, in the month of April is nearly 

 the same every where: wicker pens are provided 

 for them, placed in rows, and tier above tier, not 

 uncommonly under the same roof with their owner. 

 Some place water and. corn near the nests; others 

 drive them to the water twice a day, and replace 

 each female upon her own nest as soon as she 

 returns. This business requires the attendance of 

 the Gozzard (Goose-herd) a month at least, in 

 which time the young are brought forth: as soon 

 afterwards as the brood are able to waddle along, 

 they are, together with their dams, driven to the 

 contiguous loughs, and fens or marshes, on whose 

 grassy-margined pools they feed and thrive, with- 

 out requiring any further attendance until the 

 autumn. To these marshes, which otherwise would 

 be unoccupied, (except by wild birds) and be only 

 useless watery wastes, we are principally indebted 

 for so great a supply of the Goose; for in almost 

 every country where lakes and marshes abound, 

 the neighbouring inhabitants keep as many as suit 

 their convenience, and in this way immense num- 

 bers annually attain to full growth and perfection. 



