420 HISTORY OF 



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 difference 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 upwards, 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 decoy-men, 

 foreign ducks ; the latter are supposed to be na- 

 tives 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 na- 

 tives 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 greyish-blue colour ; the Golden Eye, with 

 a large white spot at the corners of the mouth, 



