MALLARD 95 
or it may lurk about in turf-drains or in ditches; in the 
last-named situation I have seen it feeding by day. 
Voice.—At the onset of the pairing-season,” in early 
spring, the males become noisy, and their loud call-note 
quack-quack qua-qua, may be heard on our tidal estuaries 
above the merry whistle of the Wigeon, as they sport 
on the water, the rival males actively endeavouring to gain 
possession of the females. The alarm-note is harsher ‘and 
more prolonged than the call-note. 
Nest—The Mallard builds on the ground, along the 
margins of inland lakes and rivers, amid the erass and ‘serub 
of the drier and firmer soil of bog-land, in dry ditches, among 
heather on the hills,’ and more rarely in trees, in ruins, and on 
the tops of walls. Most of the nests which I have observed 
in unprotected situations have been built among vegetation 
sufficiently dense and tall to conceal the sitting “bird, but in 
preserves the nests are often in very exposed situations. 
The principal materials of which the nest is composed 
are dry grasses, with a lining of down. The eggs, eight 
to twelve in number, are very pale greenish-blue, which 
changes to greenish-yellow as incubation advances. Incu- 
bation begins about the end of March in the southern 
counties, but later further north. The Mallard still breeds 
freely in the British Isles, despite increased drainage, nor 
is it likely to fall off in numbers as long as it continues to 
receive adequate protection. 
Geographical distribution.— Abroad, this bird has an ex- 
tensive distribution as a nesting-species over the Continent 
and Isiands of Europe, from the Sub-arctic regions to the 
Having made up our minds that the bird showed all signs of maturity, 
and having noted the sex, we gave it its liberty. It fluttered to the 
nearest furze-bush, under which it took refuge. On different occasions I 
haye seen a Mallard fly so clumsily that a dog could easily hunt it down. 
These ‘moulting Mallards’ (adult females or males changing from 
eclipse to winter plumage) are frequently mistaken for ‘flappers’ by 
sportsmen. 
* It is interesting to note that the Mallard in a state of nature is 
monogamous, whereas its descendant, the farm-yard Duck, is distinctly 
polygamous. 
% An interesting habit, as recorded by Mr. Ussher, is that of the 
parent bird leading its little downy ducklings from the hills to the 
Cappagh lakes, co. Waterford. The distance, which is sometimes about 
one mile, is undertaken on foot. In the stillness of the night Sir Rk. 
Payne-Gallwey once came across a Wild Duck “and her tiny straggling 
brood,” marching through a village street (‘ Fowler in Ireland,’ p. 33). 
