Texans like to talk about the cowboys who drove big herds over the trails to market before the West was fenced in. But, given the season, I’ve been thinking about the goose drives of even earlier days.
Thomas Bewick, author of A History of British Birds, saw one in 1783.
He was in Chelmsford, 30 miles northeast of London, when a flock of 9,000 waddled through. The birds were headed for market in the big city.
Like the cowboys of the Wild West, the goose guys of England were generally young and poor, desperate enough to accept the hardships of the trail. The drivers got their birds moving at 3 a.m. and stopped for the day at 9 p.m. They could make eight to 10 miles a day, Bewick said.
Bewick, if you don’t know him, was a wood engraver who was interested in nature. His History is the forerunner of our field guides. If you’re a collector of field guides, as I am, you owe Bewick a libation. Bewick is the patron saint of a healthy section of my library.
• Sources: A good place is the Bewick Society, http://www.bewicksociety.org/
I heard the story from Roger Deakin, Notes from Walnut Tree Farm; London: Penguin Books, 2009. This wonderful book has been mentioned many times.
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