One bird, the young of the common Duck, is waterproof everywhere, except at the tail, the down of which soon becomes soaked, while the rest of its body is dry. The tail of the Duckling is, like the heel of Achilles, its weak point, on which account many farmers' wives clip it close before they suffer a brood to approach the pond. But compare the stiff, elastic, brush-like down of a common Duckling or Gosling, with the soft, cottony, compressible covering of a newly-hatched Chicken or Turkey, and it will unhesitatingly be granted that there is room for further inquiry. And it is desirable that the investigation should be pursued by some man of experience and acquirement, who is in possession of good instruments, and has the skill to use them. I am not aware of any fossil feathers being catalogued in our museums, but portions of them at least are as likely to be found in situ, if searched after, as the delicate tissue of plants. Thus it may be possible to determine, independently of any reference to webbed feet, or broad bill, which of the pre-adamite birds delighted in the water, and which were confined to the dry land; some light may even be thrown on the habits of the mysterious Dodo.

The female of the Musk Duck has considerable powers of flight, and is easy and self-possessed in the use of its wings. It is fond of perching on the tops of barns, walls, &c. Its feet appear by their form to be more adapted to such purposes than those of most other Ducks. If allowed to spend the night in the hen-house, the female will generally go to roost by the side of the Hens, but the Drake is too heavy to mount thither with ease. Its claws are sharp and long; and it approaches the tribe of Rasores or Scratchers in an un-scientific sense, being almost as dangerous to handle incautiously as an ill-tempered cat; and will occasionally adopt a still more offensive and scarcely describable means of annoyance.

The voice of the male is a hoarse asthmatical sigh. Its habits are gross, obscene, dirty, indolent, selfish.

It manifests little affection to its female partner, and none towards its offspring. The possession of three or four mates suits it, and them, better than to be confined to the company of a single one. It bullies other fowls, sometimes by pulling their feathers, but more frequently by following them close, and repeatedly thrusting its face in their way, with an offensive and satyr-like expression of countenance. I have not observed it to sift the water, as it were, with its bill, to extract minute insects and worms, as is the custom of other Ducks. It is a great devourer of slugs. A nest of half-fledged birds of any moderate size would soon be swallowed.

The female appears to be mute, or nearly so, having, in general, only a faint cry while leading her young; but, as in other cases of assumed dumbness, a sudden fright will sometimes extort the real truth.

"I discovered the voice of the female Musk Duck in the following manner, having kept them for some years without having done so. In 1842, I was at Swanage, in Dorsetshire, where, for the first time, I saw some pure white Muscovy Ducks. I bought a pair, and in taking them home I found that the female, on being moved from one basket to another, uttered a cry almost exactly resembling the "quack" of the common Duck. I feared I had bought a hybrid instead of a genuine bird, though the external appearance assured me otherwise. On my arrival at home I had all my female Ducks of the Muscovy kind (of which I then had four or five) caught suddenly, and held by one leg, when I found that they all made the same noise."—A. W.

At the time of receiving the above communication, I had only one Musk Duck, of the dark variety, and upon her the experiment was tried. She was extremely tame, and, frighten her as we would, we could only get a faint cry; it was impossible to squeeze out of her a loud honest quack!" Like the obstinate Prima Donna whom the Sicilian viceroy sent to prison, she seemed to say, "You may make me cry, but you shall not make me sing." A

white Musk Duck, that subsequently arrived as a stranger, manifested its alarm at being handled by loud quackings, as above described. Willughby gives the white variety as a distinct species. The eye is smaller, and if the peculiarity of voice be found a permanent characteristic, it would tend to confirm the position; otherwise the differences are trifling. In both sorts the female is very much smaller than her spouse, and the couple suggest the idea of those unequal matches occasionally seen in the human species, where a little dumpy woman trips with evident satisfaction by the side of a husband who is twice her length, and four times her size.

The tropical regions of South America are the native country of the Musk Duck, which may account for its dislike to a cold bath in our English winter. Its frizzled crest is analogous to that of some Curassows, natives of the same continent and climate. It is fond of warmth, passing the night, not in the open air, but in the fowlhouse with the Cocks and Hens; and selecting by day the most sunny corner to bask and doze in. I believe that, if permitted, they would soon learn to come and lie before the kitchen fire in cold weather; for they become absurdly tame with those persons who treat them kindly, and fly off a few yards, like pigeons, if any disagreeable acquaintance appear. I have seen one (a male) that would wait to be stroked, like a cat, by its owner, and expressed pleasure when he took it up to caress it in his arms; but it did not permit such liberties to strangers.

The hatred of water which the Musk Duck entertains, is taken advantage of by two classes of persons-those who have too little, and those who have too much water to rear the common Duck. The river or the pond is the nuptial bed of the latter, as of most web-footed birds. Ophelia-like, a fall "into the weeping brook" is mere matter of indifference to her; she bears it

"As one incapable of her own distress,

Or like a creature native and indued
Unto that element."

Not so with the Musk Duck: a damp bed does not suit it. Where there is any very great extent of lake and stream, the common Duck can scarcely (except by cooping) be prevented from leading her brood out of all bounds, till they are destroyed by pike, carrion-crows, marsh-men, barge-men, rats, and other water-thieves, and the Duck returns home at last with only half, or perhaps none of her progeny, in her suite. The Musk Duck resists, or

On this account it

The

feels not, the temptation to ramble. is kept in some parts of Norfolk, where extensive broads and interminable drains form a watery labyrinth, from which no common Duck would easily be recovered. same stay-at-home habit and indifference to water point out the Musk Duck as a suitable inhabitant of the stable yards and open spaces of a town, or of a suburban villa. Another advantage is, that it is not apt to lay astray, or steal a nest in exposed or unsafe places, but deposits its eggs in the fowl-house, and will afterwards contentedly sit there. Occasionally it will establish itself on the top of a stack, or in a hay-loft, or granary, and make its nursery there.

The

The eggs are scarcely distinguishable from those of the common Duck; they are well flavoured. The time of incubation is five weeks: but in all birds that I have observed the duration of that period varies so much according to circumstances, that a mean of many observations must be taken to arrive at a correct standard. time required by the hybrid eggs between this and the common Duck, is intermediate between the respective periods. "I have never known five weeks exceeded beyond one day; and the difference between the incubation of the natural mother and the common Hen I have found to be rather in favour of the former, who, if she is not quite so constant a sitter, makes more than amends by the lining of down which she gives to her nest, and by covering her eggs whenever she leaves them, which, I need not say, the Hen never does."—A. W.

If it is wished that the Duck herself should incubate, it

will be better not to remove the eggs, as laid, from the

nest.

The newly-hatched young also resemble those of the common Duck; they are covered with down, the shades of which indicate the colour of the future feathers; and they do not for some time show any appearance of the tuberculated face. They are delicate, and require some care while young, but are quite hardy when full grown. Their food should be anything that is nutritious, and plenty and a variety of it. How the little Musk Ducks that happen to be hatched in elevated situations manage to descend, is a curious point in natural history. My own idea is, that the force of gravitation is quite sufficient to effect the transfer, and that seldom any other agent is employed. They would suffer little more from a tumble off a haystack upon the litter around it, or from the roof of a country house to the elastic lawn beneath, than a child's powder-puff, if tossed from the highest steeple in England. When once on the ground, the Duck would collect her scattered brood, in the same way as a Pheasant, a Partridge, or a self-set Hen. I have been told, on good authority, that in such cases the Duck carries them down severally in her beak, a mode of conveyance which may be occasionally practised, if we place any faith in similar instances. Audubon, speaking of the American Wood Duck, remarks, "they always reminded me of the Muscovy Duck, of which they look as if a highly-finished and flattering miniature ;" and tells us that "they appear at all times to prefer (for their nest) the hollow broken portion of some large branch, the hole of our largest woodpecker (Picus principalis), or the deserted retreat of the fox-squirrel." "If the nest is placed immediately over the water, the young, the moment they are hatched, scramble to the mouth of the hole, launch into the air with their little wings and feet spread out, and drop into their favourite element; but whenever their birth-place is at some distance from it, the mother carries them to it one by one in her bill, holding them so as not to injure

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