XXIII 

 DOMESTIC BIRDS 



DUCKS 



April 7, 1853. Approach near to Simon Brown's 

 ducks, on river. They are continually bobbing their 

 heads under water in a shallow part of the meadow, 

 more under water than above. I infer that the wild 

 employ themselves likewise. You are most struck with 

 the apparent ease with which they glide away, — not 

 seeing the motion of their feet, — as by their wills. 



June 29, 1856. A man by the riverside x told us that 

 he had two young ducks which he let out to seek their 

 food along the riverside at low tide that morning. At 

 length he noticed that one remained stationary amid the 

 grass or salt weeds and something prevented its follow- 

 ing the other. He went to its rescue and found its foot 

 shut tightly in a quahog's shell amid the grass which 

 the tide had left. He took up all together, carried to his 

 house, and his wife opened the shell with a knife, re- 

 leased the duck, and cooked the quahog. 



[/See also under Horned Grebe, pp. 1, 2; Domestic 

 Fowl, p. 436.J 



DOMESTIC FOWL 



July 11, 1851. And now, at half-past 10 o'clock, I 

 hear the cockerels crow in Hubbard's barns, and morn- 



1 [In New Bedford, where Thoreau was visiting Mr. Daniel Ricket- 

 son.] 



