THE TAME DUCK. 207 



any form is apt to render the flesh insjpid, and woolly, 

 or, as it is termed, " chickeny." 



As the duck is both a voracious feeder and fond of 

 liberty, it will fatten very well when allowed to roam 

 about, provided it has abundance of food ; but it ex- 

 pedites the process of fattening, to have recourse to 

 coops, quiet, and darkness. 



In Lower Normandy, where great numbers of ducks 

 are reared and fattened, the poulterer prepares a paste 

 with the flour of buckwheat, made into gobbets, with 

 which they are crammed thrice a-day, for eight or ten 

 days, when, though not full fat, they are sufficiently 

 marketable to bring a remunerating price. 



In Languedoc, when ducks have been rendered tol- 

 erably fat by being at large, they are cooped up by 

 eights or tens in a dark place, whence thpy are taken 

 out morning and evening to be crammed. This is 

 done by a girl, who crosses their wings on her knees, 

 opens their bill with her left hand, while with her 

 right she stuffs them with boiled maize. Many ducks 

 are suffocated by the operation, and killed outright, 

 but their flesh is not the worse for the table, provided 

 that they be immediately bled. It requires a fortnight 

 to complete the process, which increases the size of 

 their liver enormously, and oppresses their breathing 

 in a distressing manner. The sign of their being suf- 

 ficiently fat is, when the tail opens like a fan, from the 

 fat pressing on the roots of the feathers. 



