BOOK VIII. XIII. 1-3 



XIII. I now come to those birds which the Greeks Amphibious 

 call " amphibious," because they require not only food 

 produced from the earth but also that which comes 

 from the water, and have accustomed themselves 

 quite as much to standing water as to the land. Of 

 this type of bird the goose is particularly acceptable 

 to farmers, because it does not demand very much 

 attention and keeps watch more cleverly than a dog, 

 since by its cackling it betrays the presence of any- 2 

 one who is lying in wait, just as (so history has in- 

 formed us) when during the siege of the Capitol it 

 was the goose which loudly announced the approach 

 of the Gauls while the dogs kept silence. The 

 goose, however, cannot be kept everywhere, an 

 opinion which Celsus expresses with much truth 

 when he says : " A goose cannot easily be maintained 

 v/ithout plenty of water and plenty of grass and is not 

 profitable in closely planted land because it plucks 

 at anything which it can reach ; but wherever there 3 

 is a river or a lake and an abundance of grass and 

 there are not sown crops too near at hand, this kind 

 of bird also should be reared." We, furthermore, are 

 in favour of keeping geese not because it brings a 

 large profit but because it gives very little trouble. 

 Yet it produces goslings and feathers ; the latter 

 you may gather not merely once a year, like wool 

 from sheep, but you can pluck twice, in spring and 

 in autumn. Indeed for these reasons, if local con- 

 ditions permit, you should rear at any rate a few 

 geese and assign three female birds to one male ; for 

 because of their weight they cannot couple with 

 more. Moreover, so that they may have protection, 

 separate goose pens should be made for each inside 



* id quoque genus ac : om. SA. 



3«7 



