364 ANATID^. 



the close time commencing on 1st March is by no means 

 too early. The nest, composed of grass, lined with down, is 

 usually placed on the ground, near the margin of rivers or 

 lakes, but often at a considerable distance from water. The 

 Author has known of one in a field of young wheat ; some- 

 times in a thick hedge-row or in a wood, and a stack of 

 faggots is rather a favourite site in semi-populous districts. 

 Occasionally the nest is at a considerable elevation from 

 the ground : one mentioned by Tunstall, at Etchingham, in 

 Sussex, was on an oak twenty-five feet from the ground ; the 

 author of the ' Rural Sports ' records an instance of a Duck 

 taking possession of the deserted nest of a Hawk in a large 

 oak ; Montagu makes mention of one that deposited her 

 eggs in the j)rincipal fork of a large elm-tree, and brought 

 her young down in safety ; and Selby records an instance, 

 within his own knowledge, and near his own residence, 

 " where a Wild Duck laid her eggs in the old nest of a 

 Crow, at least thirty feet from the ground. At this elevation 

 she hatched her young \ and as none of them were found 

 dead beneath the tree, it was presumed she carried them 

 safely to the ground in her bill, a mode of conveyance known 

 to be frequently adopted by the Eider Duck."* The eggs 

 are of a dull greenish-grey colour, smooth on the surface, 

 averaging 2*25 by I'G in. The young are two months or 

 ten weeks before they can fly, and formerly advantage was 

 taken of this inability to have, in the fens, an annual 

 driving of the young Ducks before they took wing. Numbers 

 of people assembled, who boat a vast tract, and forced the 

 birds into a net placed at the spot where the sport was to 

 terminate. A hundred and fifty dozens have been taken at 

 once ; but this detrimental practice has been abolished by 

 Act of Parliament. (Pennant.) 



The Mallard feeds on grain or seeds, worms, slugs, and 

 insects. As soon as the females begin to sit, the males 

 leave them, and soon after undergo that remarkable change 

 in coloration which has already been referred to, and which 



* [These, and other abnormal situations, were considered very wonderful half 

 a century ago, but since then they have often been i-ecorded. — Ed.] 



