i86 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, yovmg 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 '.^ 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, faU 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 ; in a 

 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 untU nine or ten weeks old, when they wUl be thoroughly 



•■ 1 Yarrell, vol. iii. p. 273. 



