170 
GEESE. 
ingly, 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 this 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, he doubted whether, under certain 
circumstances, Geese, in a profitable point of view, 
may not he 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 ; hut 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, hut 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 he 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 he possessed of seven thousand. 
During the breeding season, these birds are lodged 
in the same houses with their owners, and even in 
