298 BRITISH BIRDS. 



a falling off a want of industry* in those females 

 to whose lot it falls, and whose duty it is to 

 contribute their quota of attention to these lesser 

 but not uninteresting" branches of rural economy. 

 Were this done, and ponds made in aid of the 

 purpose, in every suitable contiguous situation, 

 there can be no doubt but that a multiplied stock 

 of Ducklings, to an inconceivable amount, might 

 be annually reared, with a comparatively trifling 

 additional expense; for the various undistinguish- 

 able animal and vegetable substances upon which 

 they chiefly live, and for which they unceasingly 

 search with their curiously constructed bills, sift- 

 ing and separating every alimentary particle from 

 the mud, unless fed upon by them, are totally 

 lost. When older they also devour worms, spawn, 

 water insects, and sometimes frogs and small 

 fishes, together with the various seeds of bog 

 and water plants, of which they find an abundant 

 supply when left to provide for themselves in 

 those wet places. 



When they, with other kinds of fowl, are busily 

 employed in picking up the waste about the barn 

 door, they greatly enliven and beautify the rural 

 scene. 



"A snug thack house, before the door a green ; 

 " Hens on the midding, ducks in dubs are seen : 

 "On this side stands a barn, on that a byre; 

 "A peat stack joins, and forms a rural square. "t 



To this may be added the no less pleasing peep 

 at the mill and mill-dam, when well furnished 

 with these their feathered inhabitants. The vil- 



* "The thrifty huswife is aye weel kend by her sonsy swarms 

 o' bonny chucky burdies." Scotch Proverb. 



f Allan Ramsay. 



