92 WILD DUCK. 



often killed at once by an expert marksman. They are 

 also taken by means of hooks baited with raw meat, 

 which the birds swallow while swimming on the water. 



Other methods of catching Ducks are peculiar to 

 certain nations : one of these, from its singularity, 

 seems worth mentioning. A person wades into the 

 water up to the chin ; and, having his head covered 

 with an empty calabash, approaches the place where 

 the birds are, which, not regarding an object of this 

 kind, suffer the man freely to mix with the flock ; 

 when he has only to pull them by the legs under the 

 water, one after another, and fix them to his belt 

 till he is satisfied, returning as unsuspected by the 

 remainder as when he first came among them. This 

 curious method is frequently practised on the river 

 Ganges, the earthen vessels of the Gentoos being 

 then used instead of calabashes. These vessels are 

 what the Gentoos boil their rice in : after having 

 been once used, they are looked upon as defiled, and 

 are thrown into the river as useless ; and the Duck- 

 takers find them convenient for this purpose, as the 

 Ducks, from seeing them constantly float down the 

 stream, pay no attention to them. 



To this long account may be added, that in China 

 the rearing of Ducks is an object of great moment. 

 In that country the major part of them are hatched 

 by artificial heat : the eggs, being laid in boxes of 

 sand, are placed on a brick hearth, to which is given 

 a proper heat during the time required for hatching. 

 The ducklings are fed with craw-fish and crabs, boiled 

 and cut small, and afterwards mixed with boiled rice; 

 and in about a fortnight they are able to shift for 



