250 Mr. Peabody on the 
for the table; and the gunner resorts to a thousand 
arts to secure them, which is not easy, since they are 
shy and watchful, and at night keep sentinels sta- 
tioned to guard their slumbers. There seems to be 
no reason why they should not be domesticated, if 
those who make the attempt are sufficiently perse- 
vering. Their subsistence would be easily provided 
for, since they eat grain as readily as any other food. 
"Fhe Rep-Hrapep Duck, Fuligula ferina, is the 
companion of the canvass-back, feeding on the stems 
of the same plant which the other gathers for the 
sake of the root, and so much resembling it, that it 
often has the honor of being substituted in the 
market, and sold for a similar price. They breed 
in the fur countries, and make their appearance 
here in October. Dr. Brewer tells me, that he has 
obtained these birds in our State. Mr. Rennie, in 
his late edition of Montague’s British birds, says that 
he has one of them in his possession, which, as 
soon as it was caught, took to feeding on oats, and 
is perfectly tame and healthy, at the end of a confine- 
ment of three years. 
The Scave Duck, Fuligula marila, is said to 
breed in the fur countries, whence it returns at the 
approach of the cold season, and is found on our 
sea coast and the great western rivers. It is said 
to derive its name from feeding on scaup, or broken 
shell fish. Audubon says that he never found any 
portion of testaceous mollusca in those-which he ex- 
amined, though the birds might have found them in 
