THE MALLARD 



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resting-place, preferably on the dry ground. Sometimes 

 they recover — thanks to their rough surgery — and at times 

 you may come across their relics or their tracks on a dike, 

 where they have been pulling duck-weed — a food not so dear 

 to them as is generally supposed. Indeed, they prefer grass, 

 worms, snails, and corn of any kind — either wheat, barley, 

 oats, or beans. After the oat-harvest on a moist marsh 

 stubble, you may find their moultings and feathers in the 

 dampest furrows. And if the mallard is awkward and 

 vulgar-looking on land, yet is he good food, especially the 

 home-bred flapper. 



COMMON DUCK ON NEST. (From life. 



