Our viands

Caesar tells us that the ancient Britons did not consider it lawful to eat the hare and the cock and the goose, probably because these animals were sacred among them, as they were — or at least the cock and the goose — among many other peoples. It seems probable that the geese which saved the Capitol were sacred birds kept for sacrifice, and the goose was certainly among the sacred animals of Egypt, but that did not prevent their being eaten; and since the day when Queen El'zabeth com- manded the goose to be served on Michaelmas Day to commemorate the destruction of the Spanish Armada, the slaughter of the goose family has gone on in a yearly increasing ratio, and of late a foreign trade has sprung up in this favourite food, and we see in the market numberless frozen geese from Russia. Now that feather beds have gone so much out of fashion, the goose is seldom robbed of her down before death; but the process was never a 104 OUR VIANDS very cruel one, as the housewife only took what the bird would have plucked oft' herself to line her nest. The grey- goose quill has also been largely superseded by the steel pen, yet probably hundreds of thousands of goose quills are still used annually. The goose is not a favourite with the farmer, who declares that nothing will feed upon the pasture where geese are kept, as they make the grass rank and sour; nevertheless, large flocks are kept on commons, and share the pasture with horses, cows, and sheep. The liver of the goose was as highly esteemed by the ancient Romans as by lovers of p&te de foie gras nowadays, and means had even then been found to enlarge it artificially. Horace wrote — ' The slaves behind in mighty chargfr bore A crane in pieces lorn, and powder'd o'er With salt and flour ; and a white gander's 1 ver, Stuff'd fat with figs, bespoke the curious giv<r.' Francis's Hor., B. ii., s. 8. The duck does not seem to have been so highly esteemed among the ancients ; nevertheless, in wisdom it beats the domestic fowl hollow. Naturalists have lately been maligning the tame duck, declaring that its brain is not so large as that of its wild brother — in fact, that it has lost in intelligence from associating with human beings instead of shunning them. It may probably have lost some of its native cunning, nevertheless, the tame duck is certainly not lacking in sense, and we have often been interested by the 'cuteness of this well-known bird. The way in which it will escape from danger in a crowded thoroughfare, notwith- standing its awkward gait, is quite curious, of which a very singular instance was related by an omnibus- driver, who saw GAME AND POULTRY 105 a duck with five or six young ones cross safely from Hyde Park to Green Park in the middle of the day, when Hyde Park Corner was thronged with vehicles of all kinds. We remember an amusing episode relating to these birds which will interest our readers.