168 BIRDS OF LANCASHIRE. 



GENUS ANAS. 



WILD DUCK OR MALLAKD. 



Anas boscas, Linnaeus. 



Local Name — Grey Duck. 



The common Wild Duck is a resident species, and is 

 very generally distributed, breeding numerously in 

 suitable swampy localities, though, owing to drainage, 

 these are much fewer than they used to be. In winter 

 it is seen on the coast in very large flocks, which, like 

 those of all the other Ducks, are very much augmented in 

 hard weather. Dr. Leigh (" Nat. Hist. Lane, &c.," 1700) 

 states that at Bold it was the practice then to feed the 

 Wild Ducks in winter, and goes on to say, " great 

 quantities of these birds breed in the summer season in 

 pits and ponds within the demesne, which probably may 

 entice them to make their visits in the winter ; they 

 oftentimes adventure to come into the moat near the 

 Hall, which a person accustomed to feed them perceiving, 

 he beats with a stone upon a hollow wood vessel, the 

 Ducks answer to the sound, and come quite round him 

 upon a hill adjoining to the water, he scatters corn 

 amongst them, which they take with as much quietness 

 and familiarity as tame ones ; when fed they take their 

 flight to the rivers, meers, and salt-marshes." The 

 young of the Wild Duck are hatched in May, the eggs 

 being laid early in April, sometimes late in March. 



