wanting; they are sometimes called gray ducks. The male is about 29 inches long to end of tail, extent of wings 36 inches, weight about 2 lbs.; the females are smaller. It is most commonly seen on the inland ponds of the west and south of the United States from early autumn to spring, in company with teals, widgeons, and mallards; the breeding place is in the far north, in passing to and from which the birds are seen on the coast. They are very graceful on the water, rarely dive, and are less shy than most others of the family; a favorite article of food is the beech nut; they will also eat tadpoles, leeches, insects, and even dead animal matter; the flesh is much esteemed for food. Several species are found in South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia, migrating to temperate regions from the north. The typical genus anas (Linn.) includes the mallard or common wild duck, the origin of the domesticated species. The mallard (A. boschas, Linn.) has a bright purple speculum with green reflections and black border, the secondaries broadly tipped with white, and the secondary coverts with white ends and black border; the head and neck deep green, a white ring around the middle of the neck; the breast reddish brown; fore part of back light brown, the rest darker, and rump black with green reflections; upper surface of wings grayish brown; sides and lower parts pale gray with dusky bars; the length is about 24 inches, extent of wings 36, and weight 2 to 3 lbs. ; the females are smaller, of a brownish color, with a less brilliant speculum and the head and neck with dusky streaks. This species is smaller but more beautiful than the domestic races which have sprung from it; the wild bird may be known from the tame by its soft and pliable feet, which in the latter become hard and wider from walking over gravel and roads. The mallard is found abundantly from New York southward and westward, being replaced to the northward, according to Audubon, by the velvet duck (oidemia fusca, Linn.); it is rarely seen on salt water, except when migrating. The flight is strong and rapid, easily commenced from land or water; when alarmed it utters many loud quacks; it is truly omnivorous, devouring any thing eatable, even carrion and small animals that come in its way; beside man, its principal enemies are hawks and owls, the raccoon, lynx, and the snapping turtle. The flesh of the young birds is much esteemed; the large hybrids produced from the mallard and Muscovy duck are excellent for the table; this species also breeds with the black duck and the gadwall, the latter hybrid being very handsome, retain ing the yellow feet and barred plumage of the one and the green head of the other parent. The black or dusky duck (A. obscura, Gmel.) is so called from its general dusky plumage; the speculum is green, with purple reflections and black border, and the secondaries are tipped with white. In shape and habits it resembles the mallard, and no doubt could be easily domesticated; the flesh of the young birds is ex

cellent, and the feathers are soft and elastic. The shoveller duck (spatula clypeata, Linn.), or spoon-bill as it is called by sportsmen, has the bill twice as broad at the end as at the base, much rounded, with the sides at the base so closely pectinated as to resemble the teeth of a fine comb; the head and neck are glossy green, upper part of breast white, rest of lower parts chestnut, except the lower tail coverts, and a black band across the vent; sides yellowish with dark pencillings; secondaries greenish, the inner with terminal white spots; primaries dark brown, with white shafts; lesser wing coverts light blue; speculum golden green; rump greenish black, white at the sides; tail dark brown, with pointed feathers broadly edged with white; length about 21 inches, extent of wings 32, weight 14 to 14 lbs. It associates with teals, mallards, and gadwalls, and is omnivorous; its flesh is much prized, and Audubon says that no sportsman who is a judge will pass a shoveller to shoot a canvas-back; it is comparatively a rare duck, and is most common in the southern and western states. The Australian genus malacorhynchus (Swains.) is nearly allied to the shoveller. The Muscovy duck (cairina moschata, Linn.), more properly called musk duck, is distinguished by the rounded red tubercle or carbuncle on the top of the bill at the base; the color is glossy black, with the wing coverts white; by its lobed hind toe it connects the river ducks with the next subfamily. It is of large size, being about 33 inches long; it has an odor of musk, proceeding from the coccygeal glands, which is communicated to the flesh; in its pure state it is difficult to raise, but it breeds well with the mallard, and in this domesticated state its plumage is more white, and the musky odor is absent. It is supposed to have originally come from South America, whence it has spread over the world. To the river ducks belong the genera tadorna (Leach), the European sheldrake, this name in America being applied to a merganser; air (Boie), the wood or summer duck; mareca (Steph.), the widgeon; querquedula (Steph.), the green-winged teal; pterocyanea (Pr. Bonap.), the blue-winged teal; and chaulelasmus (Gray), the gadwall; these will be described under their respective common names. II. The sea ducks, or fuligulina, have the bill higher than broad, depressed at the tip, which is armed with a broad strong nail; the wings are moderate and pointed, the tail generally short and wedgeshaped, the tarsi compressed and much shorter than the middle toe; the toes long and united by a full web, the outer as long as the middle; the hind toe short, with a deep membranous web. These ducks are generally marine, feeding on mollusks and small fish, which gives to their flesh a strong flavor; most are excellent fliers. The genus fuligula (Steph.) includes the scaup duck and the ring neck. The scaup duck (F. marila, Linn.) has the head, neck, fore part of back, and breast black, glossed with purple and green, and the last two tinged with brown; the rest of the upper parts and ab

domen brownish black; the middle back, scapulars, secondaries, front of abdomen, and sides grayish white, with undulating fine black lines; middle of breast white; wings light brownish gray; speculum on the brownish black secondaries white; the length is about 17 inches, extent of wings 29, and weight 1 lbs.; the females are more brown and white. This duck, which is called broad-bill and blue-bill, is found along the Atlantic coast and also on the western rivers; it arrives from the north in October in large flocks, which at first may be easily decoyed; when wounded, it is very difficult to obtain on account of its diving, and from its fishy taste is hardly worth shooting; its flight is rapid and high. The ring-necked duck (F. rufitorques, Pr. Bonap.) has a tufted head, which with the upper neck is greenish black, with purple reflections; on the neck is a brownish red ring, widest in front; a triangular white spot at the base of the lower mandible; upper parts generally brownish black, lower parts grayish white; outer secondaries with slate-colored webs, tipped with white; tail brownish gray; the length is about 18 inches, and the extent of wings 28. The female has a white band on the forehead, upper parts brownish, below white. It is met with on the coast and in the interior; it swims, dives, and flies well; its flesh is said to be excellent, not having the fishy flavor of the scaup duck. Other species of the genus are found in the northern parts of Europe and Asia, and one in New Zealand; the European tufted duck is the F. cristata (Linn.). The genus nyroca (Flem.), including the canvasback (see CANVAS-BACK), which by some authors is put in the preceding genus, is represented here also by the red-head (N. ferina, Linn.); this species has a bluish bill, black toward the end; in general appearance it resembles the canvas-back, except that the head and upper neck all round are dark chestnut, and the back is grayish brown, barred with fine white lines; the length is 20 inches, extent of wings 33, and weight 24 lbs.; in the female the head and neck are brown like the back. The red-head, like the canvas-back, is very common in the Chesapeake, but is rare north of New York; its flesh is as good as that of the canvas-back, and it is often sold for it to the inexperienced; it arrives about November, leaving for the north to breed in early spring. The genus clangula (Flem.) contains several well known species, among them the golden-eyed duck (C. Americana, Pr. Bonap.); this bird has a black bill, with a white spot between the base and eye; head with a crest of feathers more than an inch long; iris bright yellow; head and upper neck rich green with purple reflections; rest of neck and plumage generally white; back and wings blackish, with a patch of white on the latter formed by the secondaries and tips of the coverts; sides of rump grayish; the length is 20 inches, extent of wings 81, and weight about 24 lbs.; the female is dull brown above, white below, with dusky wings. This species arrives with the other sea ducks in

the autumn from their breeding places in the north; it is found from high arctic latitudes to Florida, both on the coast and in the interior; its food consists of mollusks, crustaceans, and small fish, which it procures by diving. Its flight is strong and very rapid, and accompanied by a sound which has caused this bird to be called whistler; the flesh has a fishy taste, which is relished by some; though shy and difficult to approach, it will generally alight at the decoys of the gunner on the coast. The buffelheaded duck (C. albeola, Linn.), or spirit duck, is a miniature representative of the goldeneye; the bill is blue; the head crested; a patch behind the eye, going over the head, and band on the wings, white; rest of head and hind neck glossy green, with purple reflections; fore neck, breast, and sides pure white; abdomen dusky white; tail and upper coverts grayish brown; back and wings black, the latter with a white patch; the length 144 inches, extent of wings 23, weight 1 lb.; the female is sooty brown above, breast and abdomen soiled white, fore neck ash-colored, with a white band on the sides of the head. This duck receives its common name from the disproportionate size of the head compared with the body; from its diving habits it is also called dipper; the flight is very rapid, and its distribution extensive; its flesh is fishy. The harlequin duck (C. histrionica, Linn.) is a beautiful and singularly marked species, and much prized as a cabinet specimen; the bill is yellowish olive; a broad black streak passes over the top of the head, margined with reddish brown; front of the eye and a spot behind it white; a slightly curved white line on the neck; sides of head and neck purplish blue; a complete ring of white below the middle of the neck; a band of white in front of the wing, passing on the breast, edged with black; fore back light blue, becoming black behind; scapulars white, and secondaries tipped with the same, forming a bar on the wings; fore breast light blue, abdomen brownish; quills dark brown, tail grayish black; under the tail at base a white spot; the length is 17 inches, extent of wings 261, and weight 14 lbs.; the female is grayish brown. It is rare on the coast south of Massachusetts, but common to the north, especially in the British provinces; it is shy, an excellent flier and diver, difficult to obtain, and not much prized as food. The long-tailed duck (heralda glacialis, Linn.), called also "old wife" and "old squaw," has the bill black at the base, orange yellow at the end, with a bluish gray nail; iris carmine; a grayish white patch from the bill to behind the ear; upper part of head and nape black, narrower in front; neck all round and fore breast chocolate-brown; back and wing coverts brownish black; scapulars margined with light brown. This is the male summer plumage; in winter, the head, neck, fore back, and scapulars are white; upper parts brownish black, as are the 4 middle tail feathers; lower parts and the outer tail feathers white. The 2 median tail feathers extend several inches

beyond the others; length to end of tail feathers 23 inches, and extent of wings 30. The feathers are dense and blended, enabling the bird to resist the extreme cold of the arctic regions; in the winter it is found in all the Atlantic districts; it is timid, a swift flier and ready diver; the flesh is tough and fishy. The pied duck (camptolaimus_Labradora, Gmel.) has the wing coverts and secondaries white, forming a large patch on the wings; the cheeks are furnished with bristly feathers; the bill is orange at the base, black at the end, with the sides of the upper mandible very thin, and the under deeply serrated; a black band on the top of the head; rest of head and upper neck white; in the middle of neck a broad black ring, the same color passing down the back; lower neck white; upper breast and sides black; lower plumage brownish black, as are the primaries and their coverts; the length is 20 inches, extent of wings 30, and weight nearly 2 lbs.; the female is bluish gray above, ash-gray below, with secondaries and sides of head white. This species, called the skunk and sand-shoal duck, does not seem to go further south than Chesapeake bay; it is essentially a marine bird, rarely entering rivers; it procures by diving over sand bars shellfish and small fry; its flesh is not considered a delicacy. The genus somateria (Leach) contains the eider and the king duck, which will be described under the former title. The genus oidemia (Flem.) includes those sea ducks which are erroneously called coots in New England. The velvet duck (0. fusca, Linn.) has the plumage generally black, with a spot under the eye and a large patch on the wings, formed by the secondaries, white; hence the name white-winged coot; the base and sides of the bill black, the sides bright red, and the nail orange or flesh-colored; iris bright yellow; the length is 22 inches, extent of wings 39, and weight about 3 lbs.; the female is sooty brown, the lower parts lighter. These birds are seen in large flocks in the autumn along the Atlantic coast, when they are shot in great numbers from boats stationed near the shore; on account of the density of the plumage they require a heavy charge to kill them; though breeding in lakes and rivers, they are rarely seen during migration away from the sea. The flesh is dark, with a fishy flavor, but is relished by some persons. The surf duck (O. perspicillata, Linn.) has a bill of a reddish orange color, paler on the sides, with a black patch at the side of the base of the upper mandible; the plumage is black, except a white patch on the crown and hind neck; the eyes white; legs and feet reddish orange; the length is 20 inches, extent of wings 33, and the weight 2 lbs; the female has a brownish tinge to the black plumage. This is also called coot, and associates with the preceding species, which it resembles in its habits; it is frequently called black duck; it is shy, and difficult to shoot except on the wing; the flesh is tough and fishy. The American scoter, or butter-bill coot, has a bill of a deep

orange color at the base and black at the end; the general color of the plumage is black, bluish on the hind neck, the scapulars tinged with green; tail graduated; the length is 19 inches, and the extent of wings about 32. This associates with the other species of the genus. The O. nigra (Linn.) is a European bird. It is probable that the American scoters, like other birds breeding in the far north, are occasionally seen in Europe. III. The spiny-tailed ducks, erismaturinæ, have the bill elevated at the base and depressed at the tip, with a nail; the wings are short and concave, with the ends of the quills incurved; the tail is lengthened, of narrow, rigid feathers, slightly protected with coverts above and below; the tarsi are shorter than the middle toe, compressed; the toes long, united by a full web, the hind toe long with a broad web. These ducks are short fliers from the. smallness of their wings, and their geographical distribution is not extensive. In the genus biziura (Leach), peculiar to Australia, there hangs from the lower mandible a large compressed wattle; the wings are very short, and furnished with 2 blunt tubercles at the shoulder. The best known species is B. lobata (Shaw). The ruddy duck (erismatura rubida, Wils.) has a grayish blue bill, the iris hazel, and the eye situated very high up; upper part of the head black, terminating in a point behind; sides of the head white; chin with a yellowish brown tinge; upper parts and sides reddish brown; lower parts white, with dusky bars; the tail black, short, and rounded; wings blackish brown; the length is 15 inches, extent of wings 22, and weight 14 lbs. The plumage varies much at different ages. It is common in Chesapeake bay, where it is called salt-water teal; it is found all along the coast and on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. It is an excellent diver, but is by no means shy; when young and fat the flesh is tender and of good flavor. The saw-bill ducks will be described under MERGANSER, to which subfamily they belong.-The domestic duck is derived principally from the mallard, mixed in some cases with the musk duck and the gadwall, and perhaps the black duck. The variety considered the best here is the Aylesbury duck, from the town of that name in Buckinghamshire, England; many thousand pounds sterling worth of ducks are sent annually to London from this place, and almost all the broods are hatched under hens, as being more certain sitters; the most prized are pure white, with pale bill and legs. The advantages of this breed are their great size, easy management, and productiveness; they are early layers and good hatchers, and easily raised; beside, they are ornamental, with fine, white, downy feathers, pure skin, and white, delicate, and savory flesh; from their size they are the most profitable; at the age of 8 months a pair should weigh from 10 to 12 lbs. The large Rouen duck, originally from France, very prolific in eggs, is about 30 inches long; the back is sooty black; it is generally believed to be a half domesticated

species escaped from man's restraint, and afterward again subjected to him; it breeds readily with the common variety. Other varieties are the Flemish crested, black and white Poland, and Silesian ducks; the musk duck is a distinct species. The Chinese are famous for rearing immense numbers of ducks, which are hatched by artificial heat applied to the eggs placed in boxes of sand; they are fed with boiled crawfishes and crabs cut in small pieces and mixed with boiled rice; they are kept in boats, 300 or 400 in each, going out to feed in the morning and returning when wanted at the voice of their master. When it is considered that many thousand boats, each the residence of a family, crowd the river near Canton and other Chinese cities, an idea of the immense number of the ducks may be formed. In many parts of India a large and profitable trade is carried on in these birds. Tame ducks are in general easily reared, as, being omnivorous, they pick up a great part of their own living for a large part of the year. As the duck is generally a careless mother, a hen is almost always made to hatch out the ducklings, and most persons are familiar with the anxiety of the foster mother when her young brood takes to water for the first time. As a general thing the rearing of ducks is considered less profitable than that of other poultry.

DUCKWORTH, SIR JOHN THOMAS, an English admiral, born in Leatherhead, Surrey, Feb. 28, 1748, died in Plymouth, April 31, 1817. He entered the navy in 1759, was made a lieutenant in 1770, a post-captain in 1780, and in the action of June 1, 1794, in which the French fleet was defeated by the English squadron under Lord Howe, commanded a 74-gun ship. In 1798 he contributed to the conquest of the island of Minorca, and in 1799 was made rear admiral. Having afterward become vice-admiral, he defeated a French fleet in the bay of St. Domingo in 1806, for which he received the thanks of both houses of parliament, an annuity of £1,000 a year, and other rewards. He sat for a time in parliament, was governor and commander-inchief of Newfoundland from 1810 to 1815, and on his recall to England was appointed governor of Plymouth. He was made a baronet in 1813. DUCLOS, CHARLES PINEAU, a French author, born in Dinan, Brittany, Feb. 12, 1704, died in Paris, March 26, 1772. He studied in Paris, at first with a view to the law, but his tastes and association with the prominent wits of the day inclined him to the pursuit of letters. The first work which gained him reputation was his Histoire de la baronne de Luz (1741), the success of which was equalled or surpassed by that of the Confessions du comte de ***, published the next year. His Histoire de Louis XI. was not so well received by the public, and was suppressed by the government in 1745, though in 1750 he became historiographer of France. A collection of moral essays, entitled Considérations sur les mœurs de ce siècle, is the chief basis of his reputation. He contributed largely to the

Mémoires of the academy of inscriptions and belles-lettres, of which he became a member in 1789, and to the 4th edition of the dictionary of the French academy, to which he was admitted in 1747. His writings are disfigured by the characteristic indecency of his age, to which his dissolute life naturally disposed him. They have been collected and several times republished (10 vols. 8vo., Paris, 1806; 3 vols. 8vo., 1821). DUCORNET, LOUIS CÉSAR JOSEPH, a French artist, born in Lille, Jan. 10, 1806, died April 27, 1856. He was born without arms, but by patience and courage was enabled in childhood to obviate in a great measure the effects of this misfortune by making his feet perform all the ordinary offices of hands. His father hoped to turn this pedal dexterity to some advantage by educating him to become an engraver of music or a writing master. Young Ducornet, however, had conceived a taste for painting, and so much astonished Watteau, professor at the school of design in Lille, by the drawings which he executed with his feet, that at the age of 13 he was received into the school as a pupil. Three years later he obtained the first prize for a drawing of the human figure from nature, on which occasion his native city settled upon him a pension of 300 francs, which was subsequently increased by the government to 1,500. Enabled by this means to pursue his studies in Paris, he produced in 1828 his "Parting of Hector and Andromache," which he presented to the city of Lille. After the revolution of 1830 his pension was withheld. During the remainder of his career he painted numerous pictures of history and genre, and portraits, which have obtained considerable popularity, less on account of their merits, perhaps, which are considerable, than of the extraordinary circumstances under which they were executed. One of his latest works, "Edith finding the Body of Harold" (exhibited in 1855), was painted for Napoleon III. Ducornet was not only destitute of arms, but there were certain malformations in his lower limbs which seemed to present insurmountable obstacles to the acquisition of proficiency in his art. He nevertheless used his brushes with remarkable dexterity, passing them from one foot to the other with rapidity, and making the most delicate strokes with perfect ease and accuracy. He had but 4 toes on each foot, but the wide space thereby left between the great toe and the next one, by enabling him to grasp his brushes and maul stick firmly, rather facilitated the operation of painting. He was of a vivacious temperament, and in an animated conversation was in the habit of gesticulating with his legs as an ordinary person would with his arms. His father was his inseparable companion, frequently carrying him on his shoulders that his feet might not become incapaci tated for painting.

DUCTILITY (Lat. ductilis, from duco, to draw), the property of bodies in virtue of which they may be drawn out in length without fracture. Malleability is a similar property, and

both are sometimes found in the highest degree in the same substance; thus, gold may be drawn out into the finest wire or beaten into the thinnest leaf. Iron from its fibrous texture admits of being drawn into delicate wire of great strength, but it appears deficient in the laminated structure by which it may be hammered into fine leaves. The arrangement of bodies according to their ductility is nearly the same as that according to their malleability. Gold is the most ductile of all substances; others succeed it thus: silver, platinum, iron, copper, zinc, tin, lead, nickel, palladium, cadmium. Though this property is possessed in the highest degree by most of the metals, it is also shared by other bodies, as by glass when softened by a red heat. In this condition, by merely inserting a hooked wire into the soft mass, a thread is drawn out of more uniform size than could be obtained by this simple method from the most ductile metal. Attaching the thread to the circumference of a revolving cylinder, the glass is coiled around it in a fibre nearly as fine and flexible as that of the silkworm. The highly elastic gums possess a certain degree of ductility, and wax acquires the same property when it is softened by heat. Other bodies become ductile when mixed with some fluid to make a paste, as clay or flour with water, whiting mixed with oil to make putty, &c. As seen in glass and wax, a change of temperature affects the ductility of some bodies. Some are rendered more ductile by increasing their temperature nearly to the fusing point; gold, silver, lead, &c., are not thus affected; brass and the variety of bar iron know as red-short are less ductile when heated than at the ordinary temperature. It is on the property of ductility that the preparation of metallic wires depends. These are drawn through successive holes in a steel plate, each hole of less diameter than the preceding; and for very fine wires a coating of another metal serves to protect the inner wire, which is afterward isolated by dissolving the outer metal in some solvent which does not affect the other. Platinum thus protected by silver was drawn out by Dr. Wollaston in wire only of an inch in thickness.

DUDDON, a river of England, celebrated by Wordsworth in a series of sonnets. It rises near the stones which mark the junction of the counties of Cumberland, Lancashire, and Westmoreland, flows 20 m. in a S. direction, and discharges its waters into the Irish channel by a broad estuary, forming at low tide an immense surface of sand flats nearly dry.

DU DEFFAND, MADAME. See DEFFAND. DUDEVANT, AMANTINE LUCILE AURORE DUPIN, a French novelist, celebrated under the assumed name of George Sand, born in Paris, July 5, 1804. Her father, Maurice Dupin, died when she was scarcely 4 years old, leaving her to the care of her grandmother, the countess de Horn, who was the illegitimate daughter of Marshal Saxe, the natural son of Augustus II., king of Poland, and of the cele

brated countess Aurora de Königsmark. She received her first education at the family country seat of Nohant, near La Châtre, where she led a somewhat eccentric life. She subsequently spent nearly 2 years at an aristocratic boarding school in Paris known as le couvent des Anglaises, where she became a devout Catholic, and at one time entertained a design of taking the veil. In 1820 she returned to Nohant, and on the death of her grandmother a few months later, lived with some friends in the vicinity of Melun. Here she became acquainted with a young man of 26, Casimir Dudevant, to whom she was married in Sept. 1822. The young couple took up their abode at Nohant, but after a few months of comparative bliss came to the conclusion that their tempers, habits, and tastes could not harmonize. Disagreement increased yearly through trifling causes, and the estrangement was embittered by pecuniary embarrassments. Finally in 1831 Mme. Dudevant, desirous of trying her fortune as a writer, obtained permission of her husband to pass 3 months out of every 6 in Paris. She consequently repaired to the metropolis, and through her countryman Jules Sandeau, whom she had previously known at La Châtre, was introduced to Henri Delatouche, then ed itor of the Figaro. She contributed a few articles to that paper, but not possessing the extemporaneous facility requisite for a journalist, she found herself entirely dependent upon the meagre allowance of 1,500 francs paid by her husband. In order to reduce her expenses, and to visit unnoticed the public galleries, libraries, and theatres, she assumed the dress of a male student. Meanwhile she wrote a novel in conjunction with her friend Jules Sandeau, who succeeded in finding a publisher. This first performance, entitled Rose et Blanche, and bearing the name of Jules Sand, was received favorably enough to encourage the publisher to take another novel from the same hands. Sandeau had nothing ready, but his associate had just completed during a stay at Nohant a book which appeared in May, 1832. This was Indiana, which had a brilliant success. Jules Sandeau, modestly declining any share in a work which was, in part at least, ascribed to him, resumed his full name; and by Delatouche's advice the lady kept the shortened appellation of Sand, with the prefix George. About the same time it was rumored that the successful author was a woman, and this added to the interest created by Indiana. This was soon followed by Valentine, a scarcely less striking and more perfect production, which was also eagerly received. "George Sand" became then a favorite novel writer for the Revue des deux mondes. In 1833 she produced Lélia, the boldest if not the greatest of her efforts, which caused a profound sensation by the principles of infidelity and social disorder which it seemed to advocate. From this time the author was looked on with dread and suspicion by many of her former admirers. To recruit her health, she now started for Italy in company with Alfred de Musset, the poet; but they separated in