THE COMMON' sIlKT.IDRVIvK. OO'J 



" These birds show but tame sport with a gun, and are good for nothing when killed. 

 But, in winter nights, they often give you a fine shot on tlie mud, though they are so 

 white that you can seldom perceive them, even arto;it, without a good moon. Be, 

 prepared to tire directly 3'ou rise ; as they being (puck-sighted birds, will give you but 

 little time to present your gun. AVe had a great many burrow ducks on our coast, 

 Haiiipshiro and Dorsetshire, during the last hard winter. They were the wildest of 

 birds till half-starved by the freezing of the shell- fish, and thou they became the tamest 

 of all wild fowl. 



■• Vou may keep young burrow ducks for five or six weeks, provided you give them 

 crumbs of brciid, and only a little water three times a day. But if you let them get into 

 the water or even drink too much before they are full grown, and fit to be turned out on 

 your pond, you arc almost sure to kill f]u»m. This appears quite a paradox with birds 

 that, in Ihcir wild state, are alwavs in the water ; but such is the case." 



