Looking upon the Ibis, therefore, as a type or emblem of the moon, and again associating its appearance on the banks of the river Nile, at a season reminding them of the approach of those abundant crops produced by the inundations of their sacred river, we can easily see the reason why the priests of the country held it up to the ignorant people as a bird sent from heaven, and therefore to be worshipped in life and honoured in death.

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CHAPTER VII.

PALMIPEDES; WEB-FOOTED-SERRATED OR TOOTHBILLED. GEESE; FLOCKS OF HOW MANAGEDPLUCKING-SINGULAR ATTACHMENT SAGACITYCOURAGE OF. TREE GEESE. SWANS; MUSCULAR STRENGTH- COURAGE.-BLACK SWANS.-TRADE IN

SWAN QUILLS.

TABLE XXVI. (See vol. i., p. 22.)

Order 6. PALMIPEDES (Web-footed). Tribe 1. SERRIROSTRES (or Tooth-billed). Table XXVII.

We now come to the last order, consisting of those birds which are evidently calculated for swimming; having their toes connected with a web, extending nearly to the nails. There are, however, some few not classed here, although they are undoubtedly webfooted, for instance, the Avosets and Flamingoes; but these, as has been already noticed, are not swimmers, their webs being of use only in supporting them, as they tread lightly over marshy grounds. The first genus is that of the Anas, comprising Geese and Ducks, whose beaks all, more or less, partake of the toothed or serrated character, represented in the plate of the Shoveller-Duck's Bill (vol. i., p. 34), for the obvious purpose of feeding in the manner there mentioned.

Notwithstanding certain points of resemblance, connecting Swans, Geese, and Ducks under one head, there are, nevertheless, some peculiarities in each, fully justifying the various subdivisions adopted by modern naturalists; by whom they have been, accord

ingly, separated into four sections,-Geese, Swans, and Ducks of two sorts,-one of which has the hindtoe 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 protected 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

their bed-chambers; three rows of wicker pens are placed one above another in every apartment; each 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 pluckings, 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, travelling 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 rearing 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 Goos-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

ten. When the Goslings are hatched, they are kept in a warm place for about four or five days, and fed on barley-meal, mixed, if possible, with milk, and then they will begin to graze.

Thus much for the attention due to the Goose for its pecuniary worth; but beyond this, it has qualities, we might almost say, of the mind, of a very singular character: we mean, the unaccountable constancy and affection which it has been known to show not only to its own species, and to other birds and animals, but more particularly to man. And it is not improbable, that these qualities, which, as we shall soon show, were known to the ancients, might have rendered it an object of high esteem, and even in some cases sacred, as, for instance, it was to Juno, the queen of their idol gods.

We shall briefly illustrate this part of our history by examples drawn from various sources, ancient as well as modern, corroborating them with a case which occurred in our own neighbourhood.

We have just mentioned, that this bird was held sacred to Juno, and we have good reason for supposing, that by the Gauls, an ancient and barbarous people, inhabiting the northern and western parts of Europe, it was held in almost equal estimation. How long this continued we do not know; but, at the time of the Crusades, that famous expedition undertaken by our ancestors in the reign of Henry the Second, about six hundred and fifty years ago, a Goose was carried as a standard at the head of one of those irregular bands proceeding from Europe to Asia, with the design of rescuing the city of Jerusalem from the hands of the Saracens. Of its