276 THE OBJECTS OF SPORT. 



taken at Iris best. What the old English divine 

 said of the strawberry " doubtless God might have 

 created a better berry, if he had chosen but, doubt- 

 less, God never did" may be applied u nomine 

 mutato," and, I trust, without irreverence, to the 

 rice-fatted wild-duck of Carolina ; " doubtless God 

 never did create a better duck !" Besides those 

 already enumerated, we have varieties of widgeon, 

 some equivocal, some fishy ; not to speak of the salt 

 water kinds, with serrated bills, which, formed to 

 feed upon fish, obey their calling and, for culinary 

 purposes, are neither fish, flesh, nor fowl. These, 

 with curlews, sea-plover, and the like, are shot, but 

 seldom eaten since all the condiments of a Spanish 

 cuisine would fail in overcoming the disagreeable 

 flavor that gross feeding has communicated to 

 them ! 



