Line 319:  wood duck

 

A pretty conceit.  The wood duck, a richly colored bird, emerald, amethyst, carnelian, with black and white markings, is incomparably more beautiful than the much-over-rated swan, a serpentine goose with a dirty neck of yellowish plush and a frogman’s black rubber flaps.

 

Incidentally, the popular nomenclature of American animals reflects the simple utilitarian minds of ignorant pioneers and has not yet acquired the patina of European faunal names.

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