THE DOMESTIC DUCK. 225 
inadvertently to find his way among a herd of cattle, which, de 
tecting the imposture, immediately ran at him and chased him about 
the meadow. He thought himself fortunate in escaping with the 
loss of his disguise, which he abandoned to the fury of his horned 
assailants. 
Large numbers of Ducks are taken by means of nets and various 
snares, which want of space prevents us from here enumerating. 
The Domestic Duck (Azas domestica) is a descendant of the Wild 
Duck, or, as some think, of the Shoveller. ‘The first tame Duck, 
the ancestor of a family since so prodigiously multiplied, probably 
proceeded from an egg which had been taken from some reedy 
marsh, and hatched under a hen. 
The Duck, however, has been reduced to a state of domesticity 
from a very remote period, and has been of incalculable utility to 
mankind, filling in our poultry-yards no unworthy place. Duck 
eggs are a wholesome and agreeable article of food, and the flesh 
of the bird itself is most savoury. Epicures highly prized, and 
rightly so, the patés de fore de canard of Toulouse, Strasbourg, Nérac, 
and Amiens (we arrange them here in their order of merit, not 
according to Baron Brisse’s dictum, but following our own estimate 
of their qualities). Their feathers, although not so valuable as 
those of the goose, are articles of considerable importance in com- 
merce. 
Ducks are remunerative to those who rear them, for they are by 
no means choice in their food ; nothing comes amiss to their palate, 
whether it be the corn scattered about the yard which is disdained 
by other fowls, or the leavings of the table and kitchen. All that 
they require as an essential is to have a little water within reach 
in which they can paddle at will. 
Duck eggs are often put under a hen to be hatched. When 
seeking her food, the hen sometimes leads her little flock to the 
edge of water, to give them a glimpse of its dangers. But the 
ducklings, impelled by instinct, rush into the element they are most 
partial to. The poor mother, anxious for the fate of the young 
giddy-pates, whom she loves as her own offspring, utters cries of 
terror. She would resolutely throw herself. into the stream, and 
perhaps get drowned, were she not soothed by seeing them swimming 
about, happy and active. 
. There are several favourite varieties of the Domestic Duck, but 
those of Normandy and Picardy, in France, and the Aylesbury 
Nucks, in England, are the most profitable. Every nation rears ducks ; 
but the Chinese undeniably most excel in this art. For hatching 
I 
