380 WEB-FOOTED BIRDS. 



Though believed to be monogamous, the fact is doubtful, as, 

 during the season of incubation, the Mallards are seen to 

 congregate apart from the Ducks as among other polygamous 

 birds. Indeed, so little is the male interested in the fate of 

 the brood he has procreated, that the female, as incubation 

 adv ances, is assiduous to hide herself from the company of 

 her indifferent mate : she steals to her nest with caution, and 

 sits on her eggs with the greatest pertinacity and instinctive 

 affection. When the young are hatched, in situations 

 remote from water, the parent is seen to transport them 

 to it by carrying them gently in her bill. In the evening, 

 the mother retires into the reeds, and broods her young 

 under her wino-s for the night. Almost from the moment of 

 hatching the ducklings swim and dive with the greatest 

 address, employing themselves often in catching gnats and 

 other insects on which they at first principally feed, but 

 though so alert and well provided for their aquatic life, their 

 aerial progress and the growth of their wings is very tardy, 

 these continuing short and misshapen for near six weeks, and 

 it can scarcely attempt to fly in less than three months. 

 This protracted infancy necessarily indicates the necessity 

 of pairing early in the season, and in the milder parts of 

 Europe, the males, jealous and quarrelsome with each other, 

 begin towards the close of February already to address their 

 mates. 



Wild Ducks at all times show more activity in the night 

 than in the day. They feed, migrate, arrive and depart, 

 chiefly in the evening, and in the night. In the dusk, the 

 rustling of their wings often alone marks their progress. 

 Their flight is generally in the form of a wedge or two con- 

 verging lines ( ^ ) ; and being very cautious, they never 

 alight until they have wheeled several times round the spot, as 

 if to survey any lurking danger that may possibly threat- 

 en. They often also swim out at a distance from the shore. 



