168 THE WILD DUCK. 



A great enemy to ducks in the nesting time is 

 the rat ; those arrant poachers, more worthy of the 

 gamekeeper's attention than the birds of prey, which 

 are so useful in thinning their numbers, are exceed- 

 ingly destructive to the eggs of this species ; it is 

 not surprising, therefore, that their nests should be 

 so frequently found to contain nothing but empty egg 

 shells. Nor are the young birds out of danger when 

 they take to the water ; for, doubtless, many in their 

 early days fall a prey to the monster pike which are so 

 common in our Avaters ; it is quite possible also that 

 the eels claim their tribute. These causes are a serious 

 check upon the increase of the various water fowl, and, 

 in some cases^ I believe, have proved destructive to 

 whole broods. 



The remarkable change which takes place at certain 

 periods of tlie year in the plumage of the males of many 

 species of duclc, by which they assume for a time the 

 appearance of the females of their species, or, as Charles 

 Waterton so aptly expresses it, " the drake goes, as it 

 were, into an eclipse," is very observable in this species. 

 Some interesting remaks upon the subject will be found 

 ante, p. 153. 



As might be expected with a species which is so 

 readily domesticated, hybrids are not at all uncommon ; 

 it has been recorded as breeding with more than a 

 dozen others, particulars of which have been collected 

 by Baron de Selys Longchamps ("Bull, de I'Acad. Roy. 

 de Belgique," 1845, 1856), and Mons. Suchetet ('^Note 

 sur les liy brides des Anatides." Rouen, 1888). 



Varieties of this species are not unfrequently met 

 with ; albinos are said to be very rare indeed, and I am 

 not aware of such an occurrence in this county, but in 

 some loose notes by the late Mr. Robert Rising, of 

 Horsey, now, I believe, in the possession of Mr. Colman, 

 he mentions two cream-coloured mallards killed at Hor- 

 sey on 2nd September, 1853. Mr. Lubbock, in an inter- 

 leaved copy of Bewick, mentions that a black variety, " a 

 genuine wild bird," was taken in 1857 by his friend, Mr. 

 Kerrison, in the decoy at Ran worth, *' coal-black, wiili 

 bottle-green reflections on the head and neck." In 

 February, 1838, Mr. J. H. Gurney procured a variety of 



