20 DUSKY DUCK. 
lent eating; but when the ponds are covered with ice, and they are 
forced to betake themselves to estuaries or inlets of the sea, their 
flesh becomes less juicy and assumes a fishy flavour. During con- 
tinued frost they collect into larger bodies than at any other time, a 
flock once alighted seeming to attract others, until at last hundreds 
of them meet, especially in the dawn and towards sunset. ‘The larger 
the flock however, the more difficult it is to approach it, for many 
sentinels are seen on the look-out, while the rest are asleep or feeding 
along the shores Unlike the “ Sea Ducks,” this species does not ride 
at anchor, as it were, during its hours of repose. 
My friend, the Reverend Dr Joun Bacuman, assures me that this 
bird, which some years ago was rather scarce in South Carolina, is 
now becoming quite abundant in that state, where, during autumn and 
winter, it resorts to the rice fields. After feeding a few weeks on the 
seeds it becomes fat, juicy, and tender. He adds that the farther in- 
land, the more plentifully does it occur, which may be owing to the 
many steamers that ply on the rivers along the sea coast, where very 
few are to be seen. They are however followed in their retreats, and 
shot in great numbers, so that the markets of Charleston are now amply 
supplied with them. He also informs me that he has known hybrid 
broods produced by a male of this species and the common domestic 
duck ; and that he had three of these hybrid females, the eggs of all 
of which were productive. The young birds were larger than either of 
their parents, but although they laid eggs in the course of the follow- 
ing spring, not one of these proved impregnated. He further states 
that he procured three nests of the Dusky Duck in the State of New 
York. 
The young of this species, in the early part of autumn, afford de- 
licious eating, and, in my estimation, are much uperior in this respect 
to the more celebrated Canvass-back Duck. That the species should 
not before now have been brought into a state of perfect domestica- 
tion, only indicates our reluctance unnecessarily to augment the com- 
forts which have been so bountifully accorded by Nature to the inhabi- 
tants of our happy country. In our eastern markets the price of these 
pirds is from a dollar to a dollar and fifty cents the pair. They are dearer 
at New Orleans, but much cheaper in the States of Ohio and Kentucky, 
where they are still more abundant. Their feathers are elastic, and 
as valuable as those of any other species. 
