68 LAMPRONESSA SPONSA 



eastern cities, where they brought from thirty or forty cents to nearly double that 

 price the pair. Wilson considered their flesh inferior to that of the Blue-winged Teal. 

 In Frank Forester's (Henry W. Herbert's) "Sporting Scenes and Characters" it is 

 related how the imaginary character, Harry Archer, that model sportsman, reared 

 Carolina Ducks for the table and fed them on celery in order to improve the flavor! 

 Frank Forester himself had a very high opinion of the flesh and considered it second 

 only to the Canvas-back's. 



Hunt. When the species still existed in large numbers they were shot in the 

 evening and morning during their flights, and even in thickly settled Massachusetts 

 one of Forbush's (1912) correspondents remembered sixty being killed during a 

 single morning. They were shot, of course, at all seasons of the year, many even 

 before they could fly. Farther south many were taken in nets or traps and brought 

 to the market alive (Audubon). Carolina Ducks were always easily killed from 

 canoes paddled carefully down quiet waterways but were not shot over decoys as 

 commonly as other species. Their tameness when approached quietly over the 

 water very likely has some relation to their nocturnal habits and comparatively 

 poor daylight sight. They certainly have no defect of hearing. 



Captivity. The Carolina Duck is probably better adapted to aviaries and parks 

 than any other ornamental water-fowl. It meets the many requirements of the fan- 

 cier to a remarkable degree. Its plumage is striking, while the voice is agreeable and 

 not too loud. At the same time the species may without difficulty be kept in large 

 numbers on small pools even during the breeding season. Besides this, they are 

 extremely hardy and do not even suffer during the severe winters of northern Ger- 

 many, if open water is provided. They become extremely tame, and if allowed to 

 develop their wings they remain quite local in their habits and are loath to leave the 

 immediate vicinity of their birth-place. Above all, they lay freely and the young 

 are more easily handled than those of any of the smaller ducks. 



This duck was imported alive into England at a very early date, but just how 

 early I have been unable to determine. Edwards (1743-51), who described a speci- 

 men shot in England before 1747, at the seat of William Nicholas, Esq., supposed that 

 it had strayed from some neighboring estate, and mentions seeing several live birds 

 that had been brought from Carolina to London. On the Continent they were well 

 known at least as early as the 17th century. The zoological collection of the Condes 

 at Chantilly received six specimens in 1663, and others were kept by Louis XIV at 

 Versailles. In Holland it was kept so commonly in the 17th and 18th centuries that 

 it was even used by the nobility as a table bird (Loisel, 1912). Sonnini, in his edition 

 of Buffon, writes that he kept Carolina Ducks in France, and also noticed the eclipse 

 plumage of the male. In various parts of America Alexander Wilson had seen many 



