CORRESPONDENCE OP RAY. 149 



elude it from those of the Mergi and Colymhi ; and that 

 was, that it had a flat bill, which is a note common to no 

 other birds that I know of but the goose and duck-kinds. 

 Notwithstanding what he saith of the debility of its feet 

 unfit for walking on land, I see not but that it may 

 march as well as the rest of its kind ; all which have but 

 short and weak legs in proportion to the bulk of their 

 bodies, and those also situate very backward. What he 

 saith of the smallness and weakness of the wings, and 

 shortness of then" feathers, is common to many sea-fowl, 

 viz. the Tridactylce and Mergi, which yet by the nimble 

 agitation of them fly very swiftly and strongly. What he 

 saith of the mobility of the upper mandible of the jaw, I 

 shall not be too hasty to believe, as in a former letter I 

 remember to have written. 



Now though this bird happened to be known to me by 

 another name, yet is it so rare and uncommon, that I 

 take it not to have been described by any that have written 

 the history of birds before ; though, as I remember, the 

 name of Macreuse is mentioned by Gesner or Aldrovand, 

 or both. Why they of the church of Rome should allow 

 this bird to be eaten in Lent, and upon other fasting 

 days, more than others of this kind, but especially the 

 TridadyldB, I see no reason : the flesh of these last, which 

 live only or chiefly by preying upon fish properly so 

 called, tasting stronger of fish than that of any ducks 

 which feed upon shell-fish. Many birds of the duck-kind, 

 which, as I said, all feed, partly at least, upon shell-fish 

 (as Monsieur Graindorge found the Macreuse also to do), 

 have a dehcate and well-tasted flesh ; as for example, the 

 common Mallard [male of the Wild Duck, Anas boschas], 

 and Teal [Anas crecca] : whereas the flesh of all those 

 kinds that feed wholly or chiefly upon fish, properly so 

 called, is of a rank, ferine, and piscose taste ; as for ex- 

 ample, that of the Soland Goose [Sulci alba], the English 

 Puffin [Fratercula ardica\, and those of the tridactylous 

 kind ; so that only the young ones of those kinds are 



