THE MALLARD. 103 



are augmented in autumn by migratory flocks from 

 regions 



Where the Northern Ocean in vast whirls 

 Boils round the naked, melancholy isles 

 Of further Thule,i 



to which they return in spring. 



During severe weather in winter, when our lakes and 

 ponds are frozen, Wild Ducks betake themselves to the 

 Whitadder, Blackadder, Eye, Dye, Eden, and other streams, 

 which keep comparatively free from ice, and also to the sea- 

 coast. In ordinary weather at that season they are accus- 

 tomed to rest on lakes, ponds, or the sea during the day- 

 time ; and at the twilight of the evening, which is known 

 to the wild fowler as " flight-time," they fly off to the neigh- 

 bouring marshes, small streams, and ditches to feed, returning 

 in the early morning to their usual haunts for the day. In 

 the evenings, towards the end of August and in September, 

 great flocks often visit barley fields, where the corn is " laid," 

 and devour large quantities of grain.^ The usual food of 

 the Wild Duck consists of seeds of various kinds, aquatic 

 plants, worms, slugs, and insects. An example killed near 

 Gordon in the severe winter of 1878-79, besides the roots 

 and leaves of aquatic plants and a large number of the shells 

 of Fisidium pusillum, had a quantity of Sedtim Acre in its 

 stomach.^ 



The Mallard is an early breeder, and generally has eggs 

 in April ; the nest, which is composed of dry grass and lined 

 with down, is usually placed on the ground by the side of a 



1 Thomson, Autumn. 



2 Mr. Logan, late of Legerwood, informs me that they used to do considerable 

 damage to his barley fields in the vicinity of the loch there, and that he has often 

 shot numbers by waiting at the " darkening " near the " laid " spots. Mr. James 

 Herriot says he has known large flocks visit the barley fields on Leetside Farm in 

 the evenings, after the corn was cut. Mr. Black, Girrick, near Nenthoru, mentions 

 that numbers frequent his barley fields and feed on the " laid " parts of the crops 

 in the evenings just before harvest. 



5 Hist. Ber. Nat. Club, vol. viii. p. 537. 



