WATER-FOWL. ,221 



she dots not lead her younglings to the water, indeed, but she watch- 

 fully guards them when there by standing at the brink. Should the 

 rat, or the weasel, attempt to seize them, the hen can give them pro- 

 tection ; she leads them to the house when tired with paddling, and 

 rears up the supposititious brood, without ever suspecting that they 

 belong to another. 



The wild duck differs, in many respects, from the tame ; and in 

 them there is still greater variety than among the domestic kinds. Of 

 the tame duck there are not less than ten different sorts ; and of the 

 wild, Brisson reckons above twenty. The most obvious distinction 

 between wild and tame ducks is in the colour of their feet : those of 

 the tame duck being yellow, those of the wild duck black. The dif- 

 ference between wild ducks among each other, arises as well from 

 their size as the nature of the place they feed in. Sea-ducks, which 

 feed in the salt-waters, and dive much, have a broad bill, bending up- 

 wards, a large hind-toe, and a long blunt tail. Pond-ducks, which 

 feed in plashes, have a straight and narrow bill, a small hind-toe, and 

 a sharp pointed train. The former are called, by our decoymen, fo- 

 reign ducks ; the latter are supposed to be natives of England. It 

 would be tedious to enter into the minute varieties of such a number 

 of birds ; all agreeing in the same general figure, the same habits and 

 mode of living, and differing in little more than their size and the 

 colours of their plumage. In this tribe we may rank as natives of 

 our own European dominions, the Eider Duck, which is double the 

 size of a common duck, with a black bill ; the Velvet Duck, not so 

 large, and with a yellow bill ; the Scoter, with a knob at the base of 

 a yellow bill; the Tufted Duck, adorned with a thick crest; the 

 Scaup Duck, less than the common duck, with the bill of a grayish 

 blue colour ; the Golden Eye, with a large white spot at the corners 

 of the mouth, resembling an eye ; the Sheldrake, with the bill of a 

 bright red, and swelling into a knob ; the Mallard, which is the stock 

 from whence our tame breed has probably been produced ; the Pintail, 

 with the two middle feathers of the tail three inches longer than the 

 rest ; the Pochard, with the head and neck of a bright bay ; the 

 Widgeon, with a lead-coloured bill, and the plumage of the back 

 marked with narrow black and white undulated lines, but best known 

 by its whistling 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 views 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 Afri 

 ca; the Brasilian 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, 

 aiight be added, were increasing the number of names the way tc 

 enlarge the sphere of our comprehension. 



All these live in the manner of our domestic ducks, keeping to- 

 gether in flocks in the winter, and flying in pairs in summer, bringing 



