GEESE. 



accordingly, separated into four sections, Geese, 

 Swans, and Ducks of two sorts, one of which has 

 the hind-toe furnished with a loose membrane; these 

 latter chiefly frequent sea-shores or salt-marshes. 



At the head of tins-list stands the Goose, and with 

 reason, considering how valuable a bird it is, and 

 how many benefits we derive from it in divers ways. 

 Those who live in the fen countries of Lincolnshire 

 look to the produce of their flocks, in the shape of 

 quills and feathers, exclusive of the body considered 

 as an article of food, as a source of profit to them 

 almost as great as the shepherd derives from his 

 flocks and herds. These Geese are reared and pro- 

 tected with a care and attention of which those who 

 have not witnessed it can form no conception. 



It may, indeed, be doubted whether, under certain 

 circumstances, Geese, in a profitable point of view, 

 may not be considered as nearly equal to sheep. 

 The latter, it is true, furnish a lucrative trade to 

 weavers and manufacturers, as well as the farmer 

 who feeds them ; but the Goose affords no small item 

 in the ledger of the upholsterer and the stationer, as 

 well as the poulterer, in addition to thousands of 

 acres of marsh land, which, but for this useful bird, 

 would remain for ever worthless, or, at best, supply 

 a scanty and precarious pittance. A slight sketch 

 of the mode of managing a flock in Lincolnshire, 

 may not be uninteresting. A single person will 

 keep a thousand old Geese, each of which will rear 

 seven; so that, at the end of the year, if fortunate 

 in rearing, he will be possessed of seven thousand. 

 During the breeding season, these birds are lodged 

 in the same houses with their owners, and even in 



