NATURAL HISTORY. 



Sub-family c. Anatince. 



ANAS. 



Bosclias (Gr. Boer/caf, a Mallard, from (36an?], pasture*), the Mallard. 



The MALLARD or WILD DUCK is the origin of our domestic 

 bird, and is widely spread over the northern parts of Europe, 

 Asia, and America. In the winter it migrates in countless 

 flocks, many reaching this country. In Lincolnshire incredi- 

 ble numbers of these birds are taken in a very ingenious trap, 

 called a decoy. It is a perfect edifice of poles and nets, and 

 is built in the form of a tube, very wide at the mouth, and 

 very narrow at the extremity. The ducks are induced to 

 enter the " pipe" by the antics of a dog, and by some hemp- 

 seed previously strewn on the water. They are then driven 

 onwards to the smaller end, where they are caught and killed. 



Wilson, in his American Ornithology, gives the following 

 account of the method of catching wild ducks practised in 

 America. 



" In some ponds frequented by these birds, five or six 

 wooden figures, cut and painted so as to represent ducks, and 

 sunk by pieces of lead nailed 011 their bottoms so as to float 

 at the usual depth on the surface, are anchored in a favourable 

 position for being raked from a concealment of brush, &c. 011 



* The keeper of a decoy in Lincolnshire mentioned that " the Mallard, Pintail, and 

 Teal frequent rich flooded lands, swittering with their nebs (beaks) in the soil, and 

 sucking out all its strength; but the Wigcon is an amazing fowl to graze, and a 

 strange eater of grass." RICHARDSON. 



