NATURALISTS AT FAULT. 239 
them under a hen, and, when they were hatched, the produce exactly 
resembled the birds which had been asserted by the ancients to pro- 
ceed from the decay of vegetable matter. Gerard Veer made the 
announcement that these birds bred in Greenland, and thus afforded 
a complete explanation of the entire absence of their eggs in southern 
countries. 
This discovery of the Dutch navigator met with no favourable re- 
ception. The custom of eating the Scoter in Lent had been long 
established ; the Church allowed it, and every one was. satisfied. 
Gerard Veer was sent back to his galliot, and all kinds of reasons 
were found for satisfying the consciences and stomachs of the faithful, 
which had been justly alarmed. 
There was, however, no deficiency in the arguments brought 
forward. It was asserted that the feathers of this duck were of quite 
a different nature from those of other birds; that their blood was 
cold, and that it did not coagulate when shed ; that their fat, like that 
of fishes, had the property of never hardening. The analogy between 
this bird and the fishes being thus clearly established, the permission 
of the Councils remained in full force. 
Finally, as the writers of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance 
were but indifferent naturalists, and had very vaguely described the 
Scoter Duck, the same mode of reproduction was ascribed to several 
other marsh-birds. As a matter of course, the same toleration in 
Lent was extended to them. ‘The faithful were thus in the habit of 
indulging in various other birds, such as the Brent and Bernicle 
Geese. The opposing claims of devotion and appetite being thus 
harmlessly satisfied, no one cared to object to a supposition which 
gave such general satisfaction. 
We must add that this confusion of names still exists, for on the 
sea-coast several varieties of the Duck genus still go by the name of 
the privileged bird. 
There are several varieties of this family, the principal being 
the species just mentioned, the Velvet Duck (Aas fusca), and the 
Surf or Black duck (A. Zerspicellata). 
THE SurRF oR Brack Duck (Axas perspicellata). 
This bird is rare in our country, the only positive evidence of its 
“occurrence being a female, shot in the Firth of Forth, mentioned by 
Mr. Gould, and a recently-shot specimen sent to Mr. Bartlett for 
preservation, and from which Mr. Yarrell derived his description. It 
is. however, stated by Audubon as being abundant in winter on the 
