THE MALLARD. 
237 
are seen in the markets of Philadelphia, Baltimore, Richmond in Virginia, 
and other towns. Although they are very abundant in the Carolinas and 
Floridas, as well as in Lower Louisiana, they are much more so in the 
Western Country. The reason of this is merely that the Mallard, unlike the 
sea Ducks, is rarely seen on salt water, and that its course from the countries 
where it chiefly breeds is across the interior of the continent. From our 
great lakes, they spread along the streams, betake themselves to the ponds, 
wet meadows, submersed savannahs, and inland swamps, and are even found 
in the thick beech woods, in early autumn, and indeed long before the males 
have acquired the dark green colour of the head. Many of them proceed 
beyond the limits of the United States. 
It would be curious to know when this species was first domesticated ; but, 
reader, the solution of such a question is a task on which I shall not venture. 
In the domestic state every body knows the Mallard. When young it 
affords excellent food, and when old lays eggs. A bed made of its feathers is 
far preferable to the damp earth of the camp of an American woodsman, or 
the plank on which the trained soldier lays his wearied limbs at night. You 
may find many other particulars if you consult in chronological order all 
the compilers from Aldrovandus to the present day. 
Be not startled, good reader, when I tell you that many of these Ducks are 
bred in the lakes near the Mississippi, nay even in some of the small ponds 
in the low lands or bottoms of the States of Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois ; 
for in many parts of those districts I have surprised the females on their 
eggs, have caught the young when their mother was cautiously and with 
anxiety leading them for greater safety to some stream, and have shot many 
a fat one before the poor thing could fly, and when it was so plump, tender, 
and juicy, that I doubt much whether you, like myself, would not much 
prefer them to the famed Canvass-backed Duck. 
Look at that Mallard as he floats on the lake ; see his elevated head 
glittering with emerald-green, his amber eyes glancing in the light ! Even 
at this distance, he has marked you, and suspects that you bear no good will 
towards him, for he sees that you have a gun, and he has many a time been 
frightened by its report, or that of some other. The wary bird draws his 
feet under his body, springs upon them, opens his wings, and with loud 
quacks bids you farewell. 
Now another is before you, on the margin of that purling streamlet. How 
brisk are all his motions compared with those of his brethren that waddle 
across your poultry-yard ! Low much more graceful in form and neat in 
apparel ! The Duck at home is the descendant of a race of slaves, and has 
lost his native spirit ; his wings have been so little used that they can hardly 
