230 WILD-FOWL AND SEA-FOWL OF GREAT BRITAIN 



on the tide, Tufted Ducks must be numerous at 

 certain seasons. They consisted principally of 

 females and young birds ; at least he had met with 

 these in considerable numbers, and very wide-awake, 

 he said, they were. 



Numbers of fowl not generally supposed to breed 

 in this country do nevertheless breed in Norfolk 

 and Suffolk, where protection is afforded them. It 

 is quite probable, therefore, that those gatherings 

 of " Tufts" may have consisted of home-bred birds, 

 as, when they are forced to the tide, they have not 

 far to go. It is to my mind a fortunate thing that 

 places can still be found where such a bird as this, 

 which has been briefly noticed, can find itself a 

 nesting-place. Reeds, and that lush-water vege- 

 tation which is only to be found in waters where 

 they have been left as nature placed them, suit 

 water-fowl. What they like are not the mere 

 patches of reed, but reed thickets, extending for 

 mile after mile, the reed-ponds of our eastern 

 counties. 



The Gadwall is a plump-looking bird. At a 

 distance it might easily be taken for a farm-yard 

 duck, owing to the general soberness of its plumage. 

 Gadwall Teal, and Grey are names that it is known 

 by, and very appropriate is that last - mentioned 

 name, for the bird looks grey. The last Gadwall 

 that I examined, away from what might be thought 

 its proper haunts, was one which had been shot in 

 a reed and flag-fringed bay of the river Mole, early 

 in the spring. The bird was shot not two hundred 



