186 THE WILD DUCK 
garb of the Duck. It is only, in fact, from October to May that the 
Mallard can be distinguished from his partner by his markings. 
At this season, too, young birds, so far as they are fledged, are 
of the same tone of colouring. Domesticated birds are subject 
to the same change; but a reason for this singular metamorphosis 
no naturalist, as far as I am aware, has ventured to assign. 
Wild Ducks hold a prominent place among birds of the most 
extensive distribution, being ‘ indigenous to the greater part of the 
northern hemisphere ’.1 In consequence of this wide range they 
must of necessity frequent many districts highly favourable to 
their preservation; they are therefore numerous. Equally well 
adapted for travelling by sea and through the air, and capable of 
enduring great variations of heat and cold, their presence may be 
expected wherever a tract of country occurs calculated to supply 
them with food and opportunities for nidification. As long as 
England abounded in marshes, and her rivers ran through wastes 
rarely frequented by man, Wild Ducks were numerous in many 
counties where they are now but rarely seen. Many have retired 
before draining and civilization, yet they never totally desert us. 
In most districts where there are rivers lined with reeds, even not so 
very far removed from the sound of the steam-engine, one may, 
by cautiously and quietly guiding one’s steps, fall in with a brood 
of active ducklings sifting the ooze, with the instinct of their kind, 
for minute insects; flapping along the water in chase of a fly, or 
paddling among the reeds on the look-out for anything good to 
eat. The matron of the party, with a proud consciousness of her 
dignity as sentinel and protector, preserves a more stately demeanour, 
but, with this slight difference, is similarly occupied. As you 
approach she is the first to descry you; with a homely ‘ quack’, 
differing in no respect from the note of the domesticated bird, 
she sounds an alarm, and the whole family, mother and children, 
are quickly concealed among the reeds. It is possible, by long- 
continued persecution, to induce her to rise, but she does so re- 
luctantly, and even then, unless you are such a barbarian as to 
shoot her, all is yet safe. The young will hide themselves securely 
until danger is past, and she, not far off, though unseen, is circling 
round her helpless brood. In an islet, probably, of the river; ina 
tuft of reeds surrounded by quagmire; among thick bushes near 
the bank; under the stump of an alder, or even high up among 
the branches, she formerly had her nest, composed of grass, and 
lined with down from her own breast; and at no great distance 
from this her offspring are yet lingering. The latter could swim 
immediately that they left the egg, but their bodies are large and 
heavy in proportion to the size of their wings, so that they will be 
unable to fly until nine or ten weeks old, when they will be thoroughly 
4 Yarrell, vol. iii. p. 273- 
