WATER FOWL. 



materials of the nest are such as are in common 

 with the rest of the kind ; but the inside lining, 

 on which the eggs are immediately deposited, is 

 at once the softest, warmest, and the lightest sub- 

 stance with which we are acquainted. This is no 

 other than the inside down which covers the breast 

 of the bird in the breeding season. This the fe- 

 male plucks off with her bill, and furnishes the 

 inside of her nest with a tapestry more valuable 

 than the most skilful artists can produce. The 

 natives watch the place where she begins to build, 

 and suffering her to lay, take away both the eggs 

 and the nest. The duck, however, not discou- 

 raged by the first disappointment, builds and lays 

 in the same place a second time j and this they 

 in the same manner take away : The third time 

 she builds, but the drake must supply the down 

 from his breast to line the nest with j and if this 

 be robbed, they both forsake the place, and breed 

 there no more. This down the natives take care 

 to separate from the dirt and moss with which it 

 is mixed ; and though no people stand in more 

 need of a warm covering than themselves, yet 

 their necessities compel them to sell it to the more 

 indolent and luxurious inhabitants of the south, 

 for brandy and tobacco. 



As they possess the faculties of flying and swim- 

 ming, so they are in general birds of passage, and 

 it is most probable perform their journeys across 

 the ocean as well on the water as in the air. Those 

 that migrate to this country on the approach of 

 winter, are seldom found so well tasted or so fat 

 as the fowls that continue with us the year round : 



