38 ANAS BOSCHAS. 



guishable. Once in the Outer Hebrides, when journeying 

 across a moor, I met with a pair in a small lake overhung by 

 a rock, from which I could easily have shot them, had I not 

 supposed them to be tame Ducks that had strayed to a distance 

 from the huts, some of which were about half a mile distant. 

 The young obtained from eggs hatched by domestic foAvls 

 generally make their escape. The Mallard has been known 

 to breed with the Muscovy Duck, and several other species. 

 The domestic varieties are numerous, with endless changes of 

 colour. They are generally of larger size, and always of 

 clumsier shape than the wild birds. Frequently the colours 

 are precisely the same, very often pure Avhite. Often the head 

 is surmounted by a large tuft, and one variety has the bill 

 curiously bent downwards. 



This species occurs in all the northern and temperate 

 parts of the old continent, and is equally met with in America 

 as far south as the Gulf of Mexico. Although great numbers 

 resort to the Arctic regions to breed, multitudes remain in all 

 the temperate districts. Whether any immigration from the 

 north takes place with us in autumn is not apparent. During 

 winter the species is found in the most northern parts of 

 Scotland, as well as in the most southern of England. " It 

 is common in Ireland, where, although great numbers immi- 

 grate every winter, the species breeds throughout the island." 



Mr. Burnett, of Kemnay, has favoured me with the fol- 

 lowing note respecting the Mallard, as observed in his neigh- 

 bourhood : — " It is very plentiful in all our marshes and wet 

 moors. It is to be seen on the Don, but not often, and only 

 in certain spots, in the winter, particularly in time of hard 

 frost. It feeds at night only, when it dives, but never so by 

 day. In spring its principal food is frogs and their spawn, to 

 obtain which it resorts to the marshes, where these animals 

 most abound, and wherever AVild Ducks are numerous, are 

 to be seen the mangled remains of these reptiles. They are 

 also destructive to corn in the neighbourhood of their haunts, 

 to which in general they are steadily attached. They breed 

 in the month of April, mostly in marshy spots and bushy 

 ponds. I have got a nest in a dry spot among furze, far from 

 any water. The eggs are carefully concealed and covered up 



