214 AMERICAN GAME, 
net, not far from Morristown, in New Jersey, which issin- 
gularly adapted for the rearing and domesticating these 
Jere natura ; since it has, immediately adjoining the trim 
and regular gardens, a long and large tract of beautiful 
wild shrubbery, full of rare evergreens, and interspersed 
with bright, cool springs and streamlets feeding many 
ponds and reservoirs, where they can feed, and sport, and 
breed, as undisturbed as in.the actual wilderness; while 
the adjacent country being all tame and highly culti- 
vated, they have no inducement to stray from their 
abode. 
Beside Summer Ducks, Mr. Dickinson had at the 
period of my visit, Dusky Ducks, better known as Black 
Ducks, Green-winged Teal, Golden-eyes, and, I think, 
Widgeon; but the Summer Ducks were by far the’ 
tamest, as the Dusky Ducks were the wildest of the com- 
pany. I should long ago have attempted to naturalize 
them on my own place, but that a large river, the 
Passaic, washing the lower end of my lawn and garden, 
from which it would not be possible to exclude them, I 
have felt that it is useless to attempt it, the rather that 
there is a large patch of wild-rice immediately adjoining 
me, which would tempt them to the water, whence they 
would drift away with the current or the tide, and be lost 
or shot in no time. 
The best time for shooting and for eating these fowl is 
late in October, when the acorns and beech-mast, of both 
of which they are inordinately fond, lie thick and ripe 
