FOWLS. 183 



The Muscovy Duck or Musk Duck (Anas moschata) is a 

 native of South America. He is larger than the common 

 duck, a huge feeder, and cannibalish in his habits, the au- 

 thor having seen the Musk Drake swallow small chicks. 

 This duck is very prolific, and fattens readily, but the flesh 

 is not superior to the common well-fed duck. It is a hand- 

 some bird and a valuable variety. Ducks are favored by 

 gardeners, as they eat caterpillars and insects, and do no 

 harm to vegetables that have got fairly started. Celery and 

 parsley is sometimes sown round the ponds of ducks. Wild 

 celery is said to give the exquisite flavor to the wild Canvas- 

 back Duck. 



DUCK EOASTED. 



The ducks being picked, drawn, and singed, stuff the body 

 with potatoes boiled and mashed smoothly ; moisten with 

 cream, and season with pepper, a little onion chopped very 

 fine, and salt ; put them down to a good fire, with water in 

 the pan of the roaster season the water with a little salt, 

 and baste them with this liquid ; if fat, they will require no 

 butter. Make the gravy with the chopped giblets that have 

 been boiled tender, the water from the pan seasoned with two 

 table-spoonfuls of mushroom catchup, and thickened with a 

 little browned flour. Serve hot. Have lemons in side-dishes, 

 cut in two. Half an hour before a good fire will cook ducks. 



The Domestic Goose is the Wild Goose (Anas anser) do- 

 mesticated. In marshy districts it is reared without trouble. 

 The female sits on her nest when hatching from twenty- 

 seven to thirty days, covering eleven, and sometimes fifteen 

 eggs. Kept with ordinary care, regularly but not grossly 

 fed, the female lays a hundred eggs annually. The careful 

 hen sometimes has the eggs of the goose, as well as duck's 

 and turkey's eggs, given to her to hatch, though she cannot 

 cover more than six ; but as the goose is valuable, and her 



