THE WILD DUCK. 169 



tlie wild duck from Palling-by-the-Sea, quite black except 

 the head, which was green, as usual, with a white ueck 

 ring ; and Colonel Feilden has a curious variety which 

 was shot at " flighting " near Ilerringfleet, in February, 

 1886. It is a female, rather undersized, and the whole 

 of the under surface, from the base of the lower mandible 

 to the vent, he describes as being of a buff colour, 

 ai^proaching that of the goosander, paler towards the 

 vent. 



"In the winter of 1854," says an entry in Mr. 

 Stevenson's note-book, " a singular looking drake was 

 netted with other fowl in the Ranworth decoy, and, 

 being preserved and pinioned at the time, from its 

 unusual appearance, has been since kept alive upon a 

 pond in Mr. Kerrison's garden. Through the kindness 

 of that gentleman I had an opportunity of examining 

 this bird in the following winter, when it had once more 

 resumed its distinctive markings, after assuming with 

 other drakes the female plumage during the nesting 

 season. At that time the top of the head and back of 

 the neck were green, mixed with buff colour on the 

 cheeks, but no white ring. Two yellow streaks extended 

 backwards from the beak over each eye ; the throat, and 

 under parts to the vent, reddish brown ; sides sjDeckled 

 grey, back varied with light and dark shades of grey, 

 legs orange red, and no curl feathers in the tail. The 

 bill resembled the wild duck's, but the voice was different 

 from the common mallard's. This bird paired in 1856 

 with a domestic duck, which hatched off nine young ones 

 from her eggs, all the young ones showing more or less 

 in their first plumage the light streaks over the eyes, the 

 most marked feature in the old male. All the brood 

 but one duck Avere, unfortunately, killed b}'' rats. She 

 escaped from the pond and paired with a wild mallard. 

 In 1857 one or two of her brood were taken, and were 

 found to exhibit traces of the original stock. In the 

 same year the old drake paired with a wild duck, and 

 ten young ones were hatched, still showing the eyebrows 

 distinct, but these all died from cold." 



Mr. Stevenson adds, "were this bird merely a variety 

 of the common wild duck, it is scarcely probable that 

 its marked peculiarities, more particularly the clearly 



