46 THE BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



noticeable in January and February, is an interesting perform- 

 ance ; several drakes will swim round the duck, their necks 

 stiff, bills depressed, and tails elevated skyward. With that 

 quick rise and fall, as if settling themselves more comfortably 

 in their aquatic seat, they posture before the apparently bored 

 female, repeating the mellow, deep pairing call. Sometimes, 

 with open bill, the duck drives away a too importunate admirer. 

 If this performance is disturbed every tail goes down at once, 

 for when alarmed the bird carries it horizontal. 



The nest in Scotland is usually on dry ground, and is not 

 always carefully concealed ; it is lined Avith sooty-brown down 

 as incubation proceeds. The eggs (Plate 13), seven to ten in 

 number, are yellowish green as a rule, and are smaller than 

 those of the Mallard ; they are laid in April or early May. 

 The duckling in down is whiter beneath than the juvenile 

 Mallard. 



The drake in winter has the back and flanks vermiculated 

 with grey on white, and long-pointed, black-centred, buff-edged 

 secondaries ; the sides of the abdomen are buff, showing 

 distinctly against the velvet-black of the under tail-coverts. 

 The speculum is glossy bronze-green, bordered above with buff, 

 and below with black and white bands. The mottled duck is 

 light on the under parts, but her breast and abdomen are 

 speckled and her flanks boldly marked with dark brown. Two 

 white bars cross the wing, but the space between is dull. Her 

 tail feathers are obliquely barred with buft" and brown. The bill 

 of the drake is blue grey with a black central stripe, but in the 

 duck the marginal streaks are light yellow, fading to grey at 

 the tip. In both sexes the legs are slate-grey and the irides 

 brown. In eclipse, from July to October, the drake is brown, 

 though duskier than the duck ; a few vermiculated feathers 

 may remain, and the speculum does not lose its brightness; I 

 noticed this particularly in one drake which I watched through 

 his post-nuptial dress : he was not in full breeding plumage 



