THE COMMON — THE CANVaSS-BACK DUCK. 131 



With feeling's soft touch wakes the poet's sweet lyre, 

 And the pensive, the tender, doth often inspire. 



lecurvale, the head and neck of whom, in most of the coloured 

 tribe, are shaded with green ; the bill is straight ; collar white. 

 Its colour varies by domestication. Feeds on a great variety 

 of very different food, worms, snails, «Scc. The duck will cover 

 from eleven to fifteen eggs; time of incubation thirty days. 

 It scarcely needs to be observed, that the flesh of both the wild 

 and the tame duck is good ; the last, however, depending upon 

 the mode in which it is fed. In the domestic state, one drake 

 is sufficient for five ducks. 



" In the pond 



The finely chequer'd duck before her train 



Rows garrulous." 



Thomson's Spring. 



Decoy Pools were more frequent in the lowland districts of 

 Somersetshire formerly than they are at present. In the parish 

 ofMear, near Glastonbury, there were once several; at present, 

 (1825,) not one. There is, however, one at Sharpham Park, 

 the birth-place of Fielding; and another in Sedgenioor, near 

 Walton. For this information I am indebted to my friend, the 

 Rev. W. Phelps of Wells, a gentleman whose proficiency 

 in another department of Natural History, Botany, is well 

 known. 



The Valisineria, or Canvass-Back Duck of Wii,son, is two 

 feet long, and weighs, when in good condition, three pounds or 

 more; it approaches nearest to the Pochard of this country, 

 but differs in size and the general whiteness of its plumage : 

 the head is mostly of a glossy chesnut ; back, scapulars, and 

 tertials, white, with waving lines as if pencilled ; beneath 

 white, slightly pencilled ; primaries and secondaries pale slate; 

 flesh excellent. Arrives in the United States, from the north, 

 in October : much sought after as food. 



