THE GARGANEY. 



369 



flock, often to the amount of three or four hundred, go out to feed, 



and return at command. This method is used nine months out of 



twelve, (for in the colder months it 



does not succeed,) and it is so far from 



a novelty, that it may every where be 



seen,' but more especially about the 



time of cutting the rice, and gleaning 



the crop, when the masters of the 



Puck sampanes row up and down the 



river, according to the opportunity of 



procuring food, which is found in 



plenty, at the tide of ebb, on the rice 



plantations, as they are overflowed at 



high water. It is curious to observe 



how the Ducks obey their masters ; for some thousands, belonging to 



different boats will feed on the sane spot, and, on a signal given, will 



follow their leader to their respective sampanes, without a single 



stranger being found among them. This 'is still more extraordinary, 



if we consider the number of inhabited sampanes* on the Tigris: 



there are supposed to be no fewer than forty thousand; they am 



moored in rows close to each other, with here and there a narrow 



passage for boats to sail up and down the river. 



CHINESE.DCCK. 



THE GARGANEY. 



This bird is somewhat larger than the Teal. The bill is black 

 The crown and hind part of the head are of 

 a dusky brown. On the chin there is a large 

 black spot ; and, from the eye, a white streak 

 passes to the back of the head. The cheeks 

 and neck are of a pale purple and white. 

 The breast is light brown, crossed with semi- 

 circular bars of black : and the belly is white, 

 having its lower parts varied with dusky 

 specks. The legs are lead-colored. 



A couple of these birds were for more than two months in the 

 possession of M. Frisch, who has given the following detail of their 

 mode of living in this sort of incipient domestication. 4t I presented 

 to them (he says) different seeds, and they would touch none : but 

 scarcely had I set beside their water-trough, a basin filled with millet, 

 than thev both ran to it. At every bill-full which they took each 

 went to the water, and they carried as much water as, in a short time, 

 completely to soak the millet ; yet the grain was not moistened suffi- 

 ciently to their mind, and I saw them busied in carrying millet and 

 water to the ground of their pen, which was of clay, and when the 

 bottom was softened and tempered enough, they began to dabble, and 



* Sampane is a common name for a boat : the inhabited sampanes contain each 

 a separate family, of which they are the only dwelling ; and many of the Chinese 

 pass almost their whole lives in this manner on the water 



