GEESE. 1 73 



tlieir bed-chambers ; three rows of wicker pens are 

 placed one above another in every apartment; eacli 

 Goose having its separate lodge divided from the 

 others, of which it keeps possession during the time 

 of sitting. A person called a gozzard, attends the 

 flock, and twice a day drives the whole to water, 

 then brings them back to their habitations, helping 

 those that live in the upper stories to their nests, 

 without ever misplacing a single bird. They are, as 

 we have observed in treating of Feathers (vol. i., p. 

 81), plucked frequently, we believe not less than 

 five times a year; the first plucking being on Lady- 

 day, for feathers and quills; the remaining pluck- 

 ings, between that time and Michaelmas, being for 

 feathers only. The old Geese submit with tolerable 

 patience to this barbarous operation, but the young 

 ones are noisy and unruly. Even goslings of six 

 weeks old are not spared; their tails being plucked. 

 as it is said, to habituate them to future plucking. 



When ready for the London market, flocks, from 

 two to nine thousand in number, are sent off, tra- 

 velling slowly from three in the morning until nine 

 at night, during which time they will accomplish, 

 on an average, about eight or ten miles. 



Those who live near commons can turn the rear- 

 ing of a few Geese to good account, and might reap 

 still greater advantages if they paid due attention. 

 If well kept, a Goose will lay not far short of one 

 hundred eggs a-year. The French, who understand 

 the management of poultry much better than we do, 

 put their Goose-eggs under large hens of common 

 fowls, in the proportion of from four to five eggs to 

 each; and under Turkeys, to which they give nine or 



