PAJiv. ;io. I 



CHAPTER X. 



Feeding. 



,. 30. .\11 1 lie I)iicks arc more or less onuiivorous, neither 



(KeylG.' animal uo: veoetabli' foocl coming amiss to them. Some 

 incline more to the one and some to the other form of 

 diet, the following, 7'/^.,* .Spotbill, Mallard, Gradvvall ( in 

 particular), Wigeon, Grarganey Teal, Marbled Duck and 

 the Pochard being mainly vegetarians, while the follow- 

 ing subsist chiefly on animal food, viz., the Pintail, 

 tShoveller and White-eye (in particular). As a general 

 rule, those Ducks whicli are vegetarians are the best for 

 the table, though the Pintail is a notable exception. 

 The Pochards as a class, though their diving capacity 

 would seem to suggest this, are not specially animal- 

 feeders ; all and in particular the Pochard, will eat vege- 

 table diet, while the White-eye's food on the other hand is 

 three-quarters animal. 



The Duck tribe feeds both on dry land and in the 

 water, though mainly the latter. The Wigeon frequently 

 grazes, the Spotbill and Ked -crested Pochard sometimes 

 and the Common Teal rarely. In their aquatic feeding, 

 the main difference is that the True Ducks feed on the 

 surface while the Pochards dive, their conformation, with 

 their legs placed farther back than in the ordinary Ducks, 

 particularly fitting them for moving under the water. 



All the Ducks will feed by day, if undisturbed, some 

 more, some less. The Pochards are essentially diurnal. 

 From the nature of their avocations, quotes Oates from 

 Chapman, the Diving Ducks are almost entirely day- 

 feeding fowl, as they require light for their subaqueous 

 investigations. Those which prey on animal food, living 

 Crustacea and other creatures which require catching — are 

 exclusively diurnal in their habits ; but one or two species, 

 such as the Pochard, whose food consists of grass and 

 vegetable substances, exhibit nocturnal proclivities. In 

 the main however the Diving Ducks are of diurnal 

 habits In short, they occupy by day the situa- 

 tions then vacated by the nocturnal Game-Ducks. The 

 True Ducks, as Chapman says, feed by night, a great 

 number that frequent rivers by day coming in land about 

 dusk to feed in jftUx. Often, remarks Hume, for some 

 little time one particular piece of water, perhaps not half 

 a dozen acres in extent, attracts the wild fowl of a co;intry- 

 side. Even the day feeders, writes Stuart- Baker, are in- 

 clined to feed freely during moonlight nights, and tl is 

 is perhaps more especially tlie case witli such as graze on 

 grass and young crops. 



* NoTK. — The writer lias founl in the pallet of a dead Spotbill 

 entire Lotus bulb; so large as to bo with difficulty squeezed out. 



