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largest and most beautiful. All these birds live chiefly on fish, and 

 consequently are unfit for the table. 



The Widgeon is a prettily marked and sprightly species, very com- 

 mon in winter along our whole coast, from Florida to Rhode Island ; 

 but most abundant in C'arolina, where it frequents the rice planta- 

 tions. It is the constant attendant of the Canvass-back Duck, by the 

 aid of whose labour it has ingenuity enough to contrive to make a 

 good subsistence. The Widgeon is extremely fond of the tender 

 roots of that particular species of aquatic plant on which the Can- 

 vass-back feeds, and for which that Duck is in the constant habit of 

 diving. The Wigeon, who never dives for food, watches the mo- 

 ment of the Canvass- back's rising, and before the latter has the water 

 well off his eyes, the former snatches the delicious morsel from his 

 mouth and makes off. On this account the Canvass-backs and Wid- 

 geons, or as they are generally called, Bald-pates, live in a state of 

 perpetual contention. The flesh of this species is excellent. 



Red-headed Duck. This is another common associate of the Can- 

 vass-back, frequenting the same places, and feeding on the stems of 

 the same grass, the latter eating only the roots. Its flesh is little in- 

 ferior to that of the Canvass-back ; and it is often sold in our market 

 for this last mentioned bird. The Red-headed Duck is supposed to 

 be the Pochard of Europe. 



Summer Duck. This most beautiful of all our Ducks has proba- 

 bly no superior among its whole tribe for richness and variety of co- 

 lours. It is called the Wood Duck, from the circumstance of its 

 breeding in hollow trees ; and the Slimmer Duck, from its remaining 

 with us during the summer. It rarely visits the sea shore, or salt 

 marshes ; its favourite haants being the solitary, deep and muddy 

 creeks, and mill-ponds of the interior. In Pennsylvania the female 

 usually begins to lay late in April or early in May. Instances have 

 been known wherein the nest was constructed of a few sticks laid in 

 the fork of a tree ; usually, however, the inside of a hollow tree that 

 overhangs the water is selected for this purpose. The writer of this 

 article visited an old truncated white oak, having a wide hollow 

 six feet deep, which was tenanted 'by a pair of these Ducks. The 

 eggs, thirteen in number, were the colour of old polished ivory, 

 and lay on the rotten wood, in a slight cavity, and covered with 

 down. When the young are hatched, the mother carries them in 

 her bill, one by one, to the margin of the water she intends to rear 

 them in ; and when the whole are collected she launches into the ele- 

 ment, followed by her lively and delighted little brood. This beauti- 

 ful species is easily domesticated ; but its flesh is not in great esteem. 



Eider Duck. This species has been long celebrated in Europe for 

 the abundance and excellence of its down, which for softness, 

 warmth, lightness and elasticity, surpasses that of all other Ducks. 

 The quantity found in one nest more than filled the crown of a hat, 

 yet weighed no more than three quarters of an ounce ; and it is as- 

 serted that three pounds of this down may be compressed into a 

 space scarcely bigger than a man's fist, yet it is afterwards so dilata- 

 ble as to fill a quilt five feet square. These birds associate in flocks, 

 generally in deep water, diving for shell-fish, which constitute their 

 principal food. They are numerous on the coast of Labrador, and 

 are occasionally seen in winter as far south as the capes of the 

 Delaware. 



Dusky Duck. This species is generally known by the name of the 



