ANATIN^ — THE DUCKS — ANAS. 497 



among the birds of Siberia, where he found it breeding in the wooded districts and 

 forests. It is also given by AYheelwriglit as the most common of all the Ducks 

 throughout the whole of Scandinavia. 



In no portion of Eastern North America is it a common species in the summer. 

 Even on Long Island Giraud saw but a single pair — in July, 1837 — and was unable 

 to find their nest. He met with this bird in large numbers, however, in North Car- 

 olina, where it frequents the rice-fields ; and also found it common in the bayous 

 of the Lower ^Mississippi, and still more numerous in Alabama. The voice of the 

 Wild Mallard is not distinguishable from that of the domesticated bird. 



While more or less common on all our rivers, fresh-water ponds, and lakes, it is 

 seldom met with near the sea-coast. In the Avinter it is found in large numbers in 

 all the Southern waters, and especially in the rice-fields, where it becomes very fat, 

 and acquires a delicate flavor. It prefers vegetable matter to any other kind of food, 

 and its flesh is almost universally excellent. It is easily brought within gunshot by 

 means of decoys. At certain seasons it is abundant on the Delaware, where it feeds 

 on the seeds of tiie wild oats, of which it is very fond, and which contribute greatly 

 to the delicacy of its flavor. 



It is abundant in all parts of Great Britain and Ireland ; and in many parts of 

 Scotland, where it is protected, it exhibits great fearlessness, and even familiarity. Mr. 

 Robert Gray mentions that in walking through the policies of Duff House, in Banff- 

 shire, he saw many hundreds of JMallards, in a particular pool in the Deveron, which 

 were so tame, that on being approached they merely swam to the other side of the river. 

 He also witnessed a remarkable assemblage of Mallards, in the spring of 1870, on a 

 pond at Douglas Castle, Lanarkshire, which were so unsuspicious as to allow even 

 strangers to approach within six or eight yards of the bank where they sat preening 

 their feathers. 



Mr. Gray was also informed by Mr. D. Maedonald that he has seen hundreds of 

 Mallards, on a mill-dam in Aberdeenshire, so tame as to come at the call of the miller 

 who fed them. This man no sooner appeared and uttered a peculiar whistle, than 

 the Ducks came flying from all parts of the pond and alighted within a few yards of 

 where he stood. But no stranger could prevail upon them to approach. 



jVIr. H. E. Dresser, who enjoyed favorable opportunities for studying the habits of 

 the Mallard in Northern Finland, noticed certain peculiarities that have escaped 

 other observers. Like its very near relative, the Anas ohscura, it was observed to 

 feed chiefly, if not entirely, by night. When found in the marshy lowlands during the 

 daytime, it was resting, and not feeding ; but began to move as soon as evening 

 approached. Mr. ]Macgillivray states that around Edinburgh it resorts at night, from 

 October to April, to open ditches and brooks to feed. As it discovers its food by 

 means of the sense of touch rather than of sight, it can feed equally well by night 

 or day ; but in populous districts it is compelled to feed in the dark. 



Marshy places, the margins of ponds and streams, pools and ditches, are its favor- 

 ite resorts. It walks with ease, and can even run with considerable speed, or dive, if 

 forced to do so ; but never dives in order to feed. Its food consists chiefly of the 

 seeds of grasses, fibrous roots of plants, worms, mollusks, and insects. In feeding in 

 shallow Avater it keeps the hind part of its body erect, Avhile it searches the muddy 

 bottom AA'ith its 1)111. When alarmed and made to fly, it utters a loud quacA; the cry 

 of the female being the louder. It feeds silently ; but after hunger is appeased, it 

 amuses itself Avith various jabberings, swims about, moves its head backward and 

 forward, throws the Avater over its back, shoots along the surface, half flying, half 

 running, and seems quite playful. If alarmed, it springs up at once with a bound, 



VOL. I. — 63 



