HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



bay ; the Widgeon, (see Plate XX. fig. 36.) 

 with a lead coloured bill, arid the plumage of 

 the back marked with narrow black and white 

 undulated lines, but best known by its whist- 

 ling sound ; lastly, the Teal, which is the 

 smallest of this kind, with the bill black, the 

 head and upper part of the neck of a bright 

 bay. These are the most common birds of 

 the duck kind among ourselves : but who can 

 describe the amazing variety of this tribe if 

 he extends his view to the different quarters 

 of the world ? The most noted of the foreign 

 tribe are the Muscovy Duck, or, more properly 

 speaking, the Musk Duck, so called from a 

 supposed musky smell, with naked skin round 

 the eyes, and which is a native of Africa ; the 

 Brazilian Duck, that is of the size of a goose, 

 all over black except the tips of the wings ; 

 the American Wood Duck, with a variety of 

 beautiful colours, and a plume of feathers that 

 falls from the back of the head like a friar's 

 cowl. These, and twenty others, might be 

 added, were increasing the number of names 

 the way to enlarge the sphere of our compre- 

 hension. 



All these live in the manner of our domes- 

 tic ducks, keeping together in flocks in the 

 winter, and flying in pairs in summer, bring- 

 ing up their young by the water-side, and 

 leading them to their food as soon as out of 

 the shell. Their nests are usually built among 

 heath or rushes, not far from the water, and 

 they lay twelve, fourteen, or more eggs, before 

 they sit : yet this is not always their method ; 

 the dangers they continually encounter from 

 their ground situation, sometimes obliges them 

 to change their manner of building ; and their 

 awkward nests are often seen exalted on the 

 tops of trees. This must be a very great la- 

 bour to perform, as the duck's bill is but ill 

 formed for building a nest, and giving the 

 materials of which it is composed a sufficient 



lungs. Several attempts have been made to domesticate 

 the eider, but hitherto without much success ; that it 

 may be done with care and attention, I have no doubt, 

 as I have twice succeeded in rearing these birds from the 

 egg, and preserving them alive till upwards of twelve 

 months ; but as 1 had no appropriate place for them at 

 the time, they fell victims to accident, being trodden 

 upon by horses or cattle. Indeed, their sluggish nature, 

 or rather their inactivity upon land, renders their escape 

 from any sudden danger a matter of great difficulty. I 

 know also other instances in which they have been reared 

 from the egg to maturity. The eider drake is long in 

 reaching the adult state, that plumage not being per- 

 fected before the fourth year. This would seem, ana- 

 logically reasoning, to indicate a great longevity, as we 

 find the eagle and some other birds that do not attain 

 perfection till after two or three years, endowed with 

 singular length of life. The flesh of this species in the 

 natural state, from the kind of food they subsist on, is 

 very unpalatable ; but would probably, under a different 

 diet, lose its rank and fishy flavour. (For King Eider, a 

 variety of the Eider, see Plate XX. fig. 29.) Setoy's 

 British Ornithology, Vol. //. 



stability to stand the weather. The nest, 

 whether high or low, is generally composed 

 of singular materials. The longest grass mixed 

 with heath, and lined with the bird's own 

 feathers, usually go to the composition : how- 

 ever, in proportion as the climate is colder, 

 the nest is more artificially made, and more 

 warmly lined. In the Arctic regions, nothing 

 can exceed the great care all of this kind 

 take, to protect their eggs from the intense- 

 ness of the weather. While the gull and the 

 penguin kind seem to disregard the severest 

 cold, the duck, in those regions, forms itself a 

 hole to lay in, shelters the approach, lines it 

 with a layer of long grass and clay ; within 

 that another of moss ; and, lastly, a warm coat 

 of feathers, or down. The eider duck is par- 

 ticularly remarkable for the warmth of its 

 nest. This bird, which, as was said, is above 

 twice as large as the common duck, and re- 

 sides in the colder climates, lays from six to 

 eight eggs, making her nest among the rocks 

 or the plants along the sea-shore. The exter- 

 nal materials of the nest are such as are in 

 common with the rest of the kind ; but the in- 

 side lining, on which the eggs are immediately 

 deposited, is at once the softest, warmest, and 

 the lightest substance with which we are ac- 

 quainted. This is no other than the inside 

 down which covers the breast of the bird in the 

 breeding season. This the female plucks off 

 with her bill, and furnishes the inside of her 

 nest with a tapestry more valuable than the 

 most skilful artists can produce. The natives 

 watch the place where she begins to build, 

 and, suffering her to lay, take away both the 

 eggs and the nest. The duck, however, not 

 discouraged by the first disappointment, builds 

 and lays in the same place a second time ; and 

 this they in the same manner take away : the 

 third time she builds, but the drake must 

 supply the down from his breast to line the 

 nest with : and if this be robbed, they both 

 forsake the place, and breed there no more. 

 This down the natives take care to separate 

 from the dirt and moss with which it is mixed : 

 and though no people stand in more need of 

 a warm covering than themselves, yet their 

 necessities compel them to sell it to the more 

 indolent and luxurious inhabitants of the south 

 for brandy and tobacco. 



As they possess the faculties of flying and 

 swimming, so they are in general birds of 

 passage, and, it is most probable, perform 

 their journeys across the ocean, as well on the 

 water as in the air. Those that migrate to 

 this country, on the approach of winter, are 

 seldom found so well-tasted or so fat as the 

 fowls that continue with us the year round : 

 their flesh is often lean, and still oftener fishy ; 

 which flavour it has probably contracted in the 

 journey, as their food in the lakes of Lapland, 



