Eyder Duck. 37 



lers resort, and in a short time, a lake, be- 

 fore naked, is completely black with water 

 fowl. There they huddle together, extreme- 

 ly busy, and very loud. Upon what busi- 

 ness they are thus incessantly employed all 

 day, is not easy to guess by us, who un- 

 derstand not their language. There ap- 

 pears no food for them in the midst of the 

 lake, where they thus sit and cabal, nor 

 does any action of theirs indicate a search of 

 food : nor can courtship be the object, for 

 which the season has not arrived ; yet not 

 one of them seems a moment at rest. Now 

 they pursue each other ; now rise up scream- 

 ing, in a body, then down again ; the whole 

 appearing one strange scene of bustle, con- 

 ducted with the utmost regularity, and after 

 all with nothing at all to do. 



It is a curious illustration of the de gus- 

 iihus non est disputandum, that the ancients 

 considered the swan as a high deHcacy, and 

 abstained from the flesh of the goose as im- 

 pure and indigestible ; whilst tlie moderns 

 reject the flesh of the swan and eat that of 

 the goose with a universal relish. But upon 



