MALLARD. 435 



of Sir John Neville's daughter at Chevet, near Wakefield, 

 in 1526, when thirty dozen Mallards and Teal were priced at 

 £3 IIS. 8d. ; while of its former abundance on the Carrs of 

 Doncaster we find evidence in Hatfield's " Historical Notices 

 of Doncaster," where we are informed that, in the winter 

 of 1692-93, no fewer than thirty-two pairs of Duck and Teal 

 were killed on Hatfield Levels, in a single shot, by a fowler 

 named Hill. 



Thomas Allis, in 1844, wrote : — 



Anas boschiis. — The Wild Duck — Of rare occurrence near Halifax 

 and Hebden Bridge ; not uncommon about Barnsley ; frequent in 

 the vicinity of Sheffield and Doncaster ; it occurs near Huddersfield ; 

 is occasionally seen about Leeds ; it is common about York and breeds 

 in several localities in the neighbourhood ; it is met with at Pilmoor, 

 near Thirsk. A. Strickland writes " In the year 1800 the Act for the 

 Beverley and Barmston drainage was passed ; in this Act compensation 

 for the destruction of the two principal decoys in this country was 

 provided for, and which necessarily took place soon after the drainage 

 of the country : these were the decoys of Watton and Scorborough ; 

 two other decoys, those of Holme and Meaux, probably ceased to be 

 used about this time also. I am informed that at the decoy of Watton 

 only, which had a range of upwards of a thousand acres of water, nearly 

 four hundred ducks have been known to have been taken in one day ; 

 we may imagine the change in these matters in a country where now 

 only a few chance birds fall by the gun in the course of a winter." 



The present status of the Mallard is that of a well-known, 

 though local, resident, breeding in those parts of the county 

 where marshes, moorlands, and rush-covered margins of 

 streams, lakes, or reservoirs afford the necessary protection 

 and seclusion for its nest. Many birds are also kept in a 

 semi-domesticated state on ornamental waters of private 

 estates, and " escapes " are frequently met with nesting in 

 unusual situations, of which two only need be here referred 

 to : — one, at Castle Howard, was found in a tree twenty-five 

 feet above the ground, and the Rev. F. O. Morris recorded 

 another on top of a stack at Nunburnholme. Some fifteen 

 years ago a true wild bird nested and brought off her 

 brood in a small patch of corn between the Cleveland 

 Golf Links and the high road leading from Redcar, where 

 hundreds of people passed daily within a few yards, and 



