888 AMERICAN GAME. 
ducks, as established by the authorities, and belonging 
to the United States, are sixteen in number, all of which 
are entirely familiar to me. Of these, seven have the 
bill peculiarly formed, or I might say deformed, with 
curious protuberances at its base, and the feathered 
forehead running far down the dorsal, or upper, outline 
of the bill, almost to the nostril. 
These seven are the Eider-duck, the Ring-duck, the 
Harlequin-duck, the Pied-duck, the Velvet-duck, the 
Surf-duck, and the American Scoter; of these, the three 
last, to all of which this bird bears a very considerable 
resemblance, are known as “ coots” on the sea-shore, 
and are distinguishable by what may be called the scoter 
bill, high, and more or less carunculated at the base, 
and often variegated with several bright colors. 
It is remarkable, that of this genus of Puligule, eight 
are of the most, two of these the very most, delicious of 
all water-fowl on the table; I need not specify the 
“ Canvas-back,” and the “Red-head,” as their names 
will occur spontaneously to every sportsman, every gour- 
met in the land—while the other eight, including 
the Long-tailed duck, Old-wife, or South-southerly, are 
fishy, rank, oily; an uneatable abomination. On the 
strength of the similarity of the Winter-duck of Lake 
Huron, to the Scoter family-of the sea-ducks, I at once 
prophesied that it would prove, like its congeners, uneat- 
able. My surprise may be imagined when it turned out 
—not by the camp-fire, where, with the Spartan sauce, 
