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 292 DUCK HAWK common variety. Other varieties are the Flem- ish crested, black and white Poland, and Sile- sian ducks ; the musk duck is a distinct species. The Chinese rear 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 want- ed at the voice of their master. DUCK HAWK. See FALCON. DUCLOS, Charles Pinean, a French author, born in Dinan, Brittany, Feb. 12, 1704, died in Paris, March 26, 1772. The first work which gained him reputation was his Histoire de la laronne de Luz (1741). His Histoire de Louis XI. was suppressed by the government in 1745. In 1750 he became historiographer of France. A collection of moral essays, entitled Considera- tions sur les moiurs de ce siecle, is the chief basis of his reputation. His writings have been collected and several times republished (10 vols. 8vo, Paris, 1806; 3 vols. 8vo, 1821). DUCORNET, Lonis Cesar Joseph, a French artist, born in Lille, Jan. 10, 1806, died April 27, 1856. He was born without arms, but learned in childhood to make his feet perform all the ordinary offices of hands. He 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 toes, 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 hu- man figure from nature, on which occasion his native city settled upon him a pension of 300 francs, which was increased by the government to 1,500. Pursuing 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 pen- sion was withheld. One of his last works, "Edith finding the Body of Harold" (exhib- ited 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 delicata strokes with perfect ease and accuracy, lie had but four toes on each foot, but the wide space thereby left between the great toe and the next one rather facilitated the operation of painting. He Avas vivacious, and in an animated conversation was in the habit of gesticulating with his legs. DUCROT, AugQste Alexandra, a French general, born in Nevers in 1817. After receiving his education at St. Cyr, he served for many years in Algeria, and subsequently in Italy. In 1865 he was promoted to the rank of general of division, and in 18(59 was put in command of the 6th division, quartered at Strasburg. Du- DTJDEVANT ring the ensuing war he was attached to the forces of MacMahon. In the attempt at effect- ing a junction with Bazaine in Metz, he was the first to reach the Meuse. On Sept. 1 he fought valiantly at the battle of Sedan, and when MacMahon was wounded he received from him the command in chief. He intended to retreat toward Belgium, but was prevented by the arrival of Gen. Wimpffen, who took com- mand in accordance with precautionary orders brought from the minister of war. After the surrender Ducrot refused to accept the favors extended to the French officers, and was put under arrest at Pont-a-Mousson. He escaped soon after, and reaching Paris obtained com- mand of the 13th and 14th corps, with which he fought the bloody but indecisive battles of Kueil, La Jonchere, and Buzenval. At the close of November and the beginning of De- cember he operated with the second army in the great sorties S. of Paris and on the Marne, but failing in his enterprises, he withdrew to the woods of Vincennes. He also participated in the last and disastrous sortie of Jan. 19, 1871. After the capitulation he was elected to the national assembly, but was not reflected. In 1872 he was made commander-in-chief of the 8th army corps. In 1871 he published La journee de Sedan, De I' etat-major et des diffe- rentes armes, and La verite sur VAlgerie. DUCTILITY (Lat. ductilis, easily led, from ducere, to draw), one of the specific properties of solids, which allows them to be drawn into Avire or filaments. Malleability is often regard- ed as a modification of ductility, but the more ductile metals are not always the most mal- leable. Iron, for instance, is very ductile, stand- ing near the head of the list, but its order of malleability is much lower. The following eight metals are named in the order of their ductility: gold, silver, platinum, iron, copper, zinc, tin, lead. The same metals have the following order of malleability : gold, silver, copper, tin, platinum, lead, zinc, iron. Plati- num is sometimes spoken of as the most duc- tile metal. This is because it is practicable, by enclosing it in a cylinder of silver, drawing the two together, and then dissolving away the silver with nitric acid, to obtain a finer wire than by any other process. Wollaston ob- tained in this manner a Avire of platinum only TTf.Vfnr f an mcu m diameter. DUDDON, a river of England, rises near the stones which mark the junction of Cumber- land, Lancashire, and Westmoreland, flows 10 m. in a S. direction, and falls into the Irish sea by a broad estuary, forming at low tide an immense surface of land flats. DU DEFFAND, Madame. See DEFFAND. DUDEVANT, Amantine Lucille Anrore Dnpin, a French novelist, celebrated under the assumed name of George Sand, born in Paris in July, 1804. Her father, Maurice Dupin, died when she was scarcely four years old, leaving her to the care of her grandmother, the countess de Horn, who was the illegitimate daughter of