OF BIRDS. 
231 
in danger, the old birds carry off the young ones on their 
back. 
Swans were formerly held in such great esteem in 
England, that, by an act of Edward the fourth, none, ex» 
cept the son of the king, was permitted to keep a swan, 
unless possessed of five marks a year. By a subsequent 
act, the punishment for taking their eggs was imprison- 
ment for a year and a day, and a fine at the king’s will. 
At present they are but little valued for the delicacy of 
their flesh; but numbers are still preserved for their 
beauty. Many may be seen on the Thames, where they 
are esteemed royal property, and it is accounted felony 
to steal their eggs. 
Goose. (PI. 39.) The common tame goose is nothing 
more than the wild goose in a state of domestication. 
It is sometimes found white, though much more fre= 
quently verging to gray; and it is a dispute among men 
of taste, which should have the preference. 
These birds in rural economy, are an object of atten- 
tion and profit, and are no where kept in such vast quan- 
tities as in the fens of Lincolnshire; several persons there 
having as many as a thousand breeders. They are bred 
for the ^ake of their quills and feathers; for which they 
are stript while alive, once in the year for their quills, and 
no less than five times for the feathers: the first plucking 
commences about Lady -day, for both; and the other four 
between Lady-day and Michaelmas. It is said that in 
general the birds do not suffer much from this operation, 
except cold weather sets in, which then kills great num- 
bers of them. The old geese submit quietly to be 
plucked, but the young ones are very noisy and unruly. 
The possessors, except in this cruel practice, treat their 
birds with kindness, lodging them very often even in the 
same roor>i with themselves. 
These geese breed in general only once a year, but if 
well kept they sometimes hatch twice in a season. Dur- 
ing their sitting, each bird has a space allotted to it, in 
rows of wicker pens placed one above another; and it is 
said that the gozzard, or goose herd, who has the care 
of them, drives the whole flock to water twice a day, and 
