ANATIDE. 487 
about as they please, make their own nests and 
bring up their own young, the only thing done for 
them being an occasional feed of barley, especially 
in hard frosts or very dry weather in summer, and a 
little barley-meal for the young. Probably if they 
were kept in a closer state of confinement the varia- 
tion above mentioned would take place. 
The Wild Duck seems to be rather an early 
breeder, the young broods generally making their 
appearance about the 12th or 13th of April. A 
variety of places are chosen for the nest—sometimes 
reeds, rushes or long grass near the pond; some- 
times the cover of some bush, either near or far 
from the water; sometimes a hedge-row at a con- 
siderable distance from the water; sometimes thick 
ivy on the top of a wall, at a height of even eight or 
ten feet. Yarrell mentions an instance of a nest 
having been found in an oak tree, twenty-five feet 
from the ground, and another in a deserted nest of a 
Hawk: and, quoting Selby, he says, “* 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 down in her bill—a mode of conveyance known 
to be frequently adopted by the Hider Duck.” The 
nest itself is not a very elaborate structure—only a 
few rushes, leaves and dead grass twisted together. 
When the nest is on the ground the parent bird is 
