CHARLES WATERT0N, ESQ. xliii 



their native haunts; for Holland is still very 

 rich in water-fowl, and the naturalist may ob- 

 tain his wished-for information there, in an 

 enjoyable manner, and on easy terms, 



I saw much in Holland to put me in mind 

 of Demerara at every step. The mildness, and 

 urbanity, and good humour of the inhabitants, 

 had gained so much upon my feelings, that I 

 felt a gloom come over me when I had arranged 

 all to go to Antwerp — a fine old city, but 

 not much to my taste, notwithstanding the 

 excellent cheer, and cleanliness, and moderate 

 demands at the Hotel d'Angleterre. I had 

 formerly known Monsieur Kats the naturalist ; 

 and on the morning after my arrival, I went 

 down the Rue du Convent to shake him by 

 the hand, and to have an hour or two in his 

 museum. He had succeeded admirably in 

 breeding and rearing the summer duck of 

 Carolina. He told me that he seldom failed 

 of success, if he placed the eggs under a 

 domestic hen ; but that if he allowed the duck 

 to sit on her own eggs, it was always a failure, for 

 the newly hatched birds were too delicate to 

 go amongst the herbage with her, in this cold 

 and variable climate. He showed me a huge 



