238 THE NESTS AND EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



or a Rook, a Wood Pigeon or a Hawk is utilized. Occa- 

 sionally it is made under the shelter of a peat-wall, in 

 a boat-house, in a hollow tree-trunk, on the top of a 

 pollard ; more frequently in a field of corn, or a hedge- 

 bottom. Very often it is made amongst long rank grass 

 by the water-side, or in a tuft of rushes or sedge. It is 

 usually made in a hollow scraped in the ground, and is 

 composed of dry grass, bracken leaves, moss, heath, or 

 whatever vegetable refuse is to be obtained in the 

 vicinity, and warmly lined with down and a few small 

 feathers from the body of the female. Some nests of 

 this species are remarkably handsome, and stand as 

 much as eight or ten inches above the level of the 

 ground. The bird is a close sitter, and when flushed 

 makes little or no demonstration, hiding herself as soon 

 as possible in the nearest cover. 



Range of egg colouration and measurement : 

 The eggs of the Mallard are from eight to sixteen in 

 number, twelve being an average clutch. They vary in 

 colour from pale bufifish-green to greenish-buff, are 

 fine and smooth in texture, and with a faint polish. 

 Average measurement, 2*3 inches in length, by v6 inch 

 in breadth. Incubation, performed by the female, lasts 

 from twenty-six to twenty-eight days. The eggs of this 

 species, as is almost universally the case in the Anatidse, 

 are covered for concealment when the parent voluntarily 

 leaves the nest. 



Diagnostic characters : The eggs of the Mallard 

 rather closely resemble those of the Pintail and the 

 Shoveller, but the down in the nest renders their iden- 

 tification safe. The tufts of this are large, neutral gray 

 in colour, with very faint white tips. 



