StiMMER DUCK OF CAROLINA. 
having been given by travellers and naturalist^ 
to this beautiful bird, is that of the Branch 
Duck; which it has, no doubt, received from 
the singular circumstance of it's being fond of 
perching on branches of the tallest trees. 
The most beautiful birds that I have seen 
in this country," says - M. Dierviile, in his 
Voyage au Port-Royal de 1' Acadie ; or, Voy- 
age to Port-Royal in Acadia, or Nova Scotia ; 
*' are the Branch Ducks : so called, because 
they perch. Nothing is liner, or better mingled, 
than the endless variety of colours that com- 
pose their plumage : but I was still more asto- 
nished, to see them perched on a pine, an oak, 
or a beech tree ; and to find, that they actu- 
ally hatch their young in a hole of some of 
these trees, wliere they rear them till capable 
of quitting the nest, and of following, by in- 
stinct, their parents to the water. They are 
very different from the common ducks of that 
country ; which arc denominated Black, and 
are almost entirely of that colour, without be* • 
ing variegated like the Ducks of Europe. 
The Branch Ducks have a more slender body; , 
and they arc, likewise, more delicate food." 
According 
