DUCK. 



277 



head and neck glossy ; under parts dull ; legs brown. The female 

 weighs twenty-three ounces. Bill black, without any knob; but 

 otherwise shaped as in the male; eyes brown ; plumage on the body 

 above dark dusky brown ; sides of the head, under the eyes, and 

 half the neck, almost to the back, brownish white;* lower part of 

 the neck and breast like the back, but paler; belly dusky white, 

 marked with dusky spots ; greater wing coverts and second quills 

 tipped with dusky white, forming two whitish bars on the wings, 

 and when closed, reach to the beginning of the tail, which is dusky, 

 and consists of sixteen feathers; vent the same colour ; legs greenish 

 brown, webs darkest. The tongue of this bird is of a singular 

 structure — from the base to one-fourth of the length it appears 

 glandular, with stiff bristles on the sides, the rest of the length 

 fleshy; the end angular, with three distinct endings, each smaller, 

 and thinner than the other, appearing attached to each other, the 

 tip very small. 



This bird is seen on various coasts of England in the winter, but 

 most common on those of France, where they are in prodigious 

 numbers, from November to March, especially if the wind be in the 

 north or north-west. The chief food is said to be shell fish, but 

 they will readily feed on corn;f they are perpetually diving, often 

 to the depth of some fathoms; this affords an usual method of 

 catching them, by placing nets under water, in such places as the 

 shells are most numerous, and by this means 30 or 40 dozen have 

 been taken in one tide.$ It swallows the food whole, and soon 

 digests the shells, which are found quite crumbled to powder among 

 the excrements. Has been kept tame for some time on soaked bread. 



* This seems to be the case with a female sent to Mr. Willughby, which he says, has the 

 neck and head, and both sides, as far as the eyes, white.— Will. Om. 867. 



f Mr. Youel kept one alive for several months fed with barley. — Lin. Tran. xiii p. 616. 



% Are amazing divers, so as to make the shooting them, whilst swimming, very difficult, 

 as they drop under the water the instant they see the flash of the gun, so that twenty shots 

 have been fired before one took effect. 



