374 DUCK-CATCHING. 



swims with them on her back to some distance, when, making- 

 a sudden dive, she abandons them to themselves, and re- 

 appearing, tempts them to come towards her ; so that, on the 

 first trial, they commonly become expert swimmers. When 

 the breeding season is over, they generally stand out to sea ; 

 yet numbers are seen frequenting the bays and creeks about 

 the coast. 



The eggs furnish excellent food to the inhabitants, and 

 the down is bought on the spot at about thirteen or fourteen 

 shillings a pound, by merchants, who send it to different 

 parts of the world. It is used chiefly for making bed cover- 

 ings, on account of its exceeding lightness as well as warmth ; 

 a large bed-quilt sometimes weighing only five pounds three 

 ounces ; of which the linen covering weighs two pounds 

 and a half, leaving two pounds eleven ounces for the Eider- 

 down. 



Shy and difficult of approach as Wild-Ducks are, and 

 withal so valuable when obtained, we ought not to be sur- 

 prised that a good deal of human ingenuity has been exerted 

 in inventing the most efficacious modes of catching them ; 

 and it is curious to perceive how people in very different 

 parts of the world may hit upon the same expedient. Thus, 

 the Indians, who live in villages built on the shallows, in the 

 midst of the waters of the great lake of Maracaibo, on the 

 north coast of South America, opening into the Caribbean Sea, 

 practise the same mode as the Chinese. They take care that 

 a number of empty calabashes, a sort of large shell, or rind 

 of a fruit, resembling an empty gourd, are continually floating 

 up and down the lake ; to these the Ducks get accustomed, 

 and allow them to drift down amongst their flocks, without 

 expressing any fear. The Duck-catcher, particularly when, 

 from the state of the wind or situation of the birds, he 

 observes the calabashes floating near a flock, goes into the 

 lake, with a calabash over his head, having holes in it for 

 seeing and breathing. Nothing is seen above the water 

 except the calabash, the Indian taking care to keep the whole 

 of his body immersed. He now steals slowly and quietly 



