nch away, I will talk Duck to amuse you; eating and
Duck talk go very well together, for the Duck is chiefly to be
considered as food. You all know what a well-rounded, compact body a
Duck has; do you remember having seen one carved, and how very hard it
was to cut off its legs?"

"Yes, I do," said Nat. "Sometimes the Duck almost bounces off the dish,
and then, father says things--at least, I mean, he says he wishes that
people who go shooting and send him presents of Wild Ducks would send a
carving map and a good sharp knife with them; but I never understood
what he wanted the map for."

"To find the joints, my boy," laughed the Doctor, as if he had a
sympathetic feeling for carvers who find themselves in front of a tough
Duck or Goose, no matter how well they know where the joints ought to be
found. "A Duck's legs are very short, and not only set far back on the
body, but sunk into the skin quite up to the knees; so that the joints
are very hard to find. This is planned to give the Duck more strength
and ease in swimming, when the legs act like paddles. All Ducks' feet
have three long toes in front and a short one behind, the front toes
being loosely joined by two skin flaps which stretch between them when
spread apart, making what we call web-feet."

"Something the way frogs' feet are?" asked Nat.

"Very much upon the same plan. Then Ducks have wide flat beaks of
various shapes, with a sort of nail bent over like a hook at the end,
and all along each side is a double row of little teeth, to help them
take their food. Their stiff, pointed wings are quite strong enough to
lift their heavy bodies off the ground or water into the air, and keep
up an even flight, often more rapid than the swiftest express train."
"What do Wild Ducks eat?" asked Dodo, "seeds or bugs or fish?"

"They eat all those things and many others too, according to their
various habits, which are as different as the expression of their faces
or the color of their features. If you look at a case full of Wild Ducks
in a museum, you will find that no two have the same-shaped head, or
expression. Some look silly, some sly, while others seem either proud or
inquisitive."

"How strange!" said Rap. "I never thought about Ducks' faces, except
that they all looked foolish, with little pig-eyes and big beaks like
shovels. And please, do they chew their food with the teeth you said
they had?"

"Those are not true teeth, like ours, to chew with. You know