WILD DUCK. 177 



The Wild Duck may be called resident in Ireland, from 

 its breeding there, and some being- to be met with at all 

 seasons. The same may be said of it in England and in 

 Scotland. Richard Dann, Esq. in his notes to me on this 

 species, says, " the Wild Duck is common over the whole 

 of Norway and Sweden, but is found only as a straggler, or 

 in very small numbers, Avithin the Arctic Circle. I have seen 

 them at Quickiock, and at Juckasiervi, but there they are 

 rare. Their great breeding places are the numerous shallow 

 reedy lakes at the head of the Bothnian Gulf; they seem 

 naturally to prefer the vicinity of cultivated districts and feed 

 much on the corn in August and September. They are also 

 found in the mountainous parts of Norway, and breed as high 

 as the birch tree grows. The young and the females migrate 

 south first, the old males remaining until they have recovered 

 their full plumage, and at the end of September are some- 

 times to be seen in flocks of three or four hundi-ed together. 

 They remain in considerable numbers among the islands on 

 the western coast of Sweden till the sea freezes." The Wild 

 Duck is common also over the other parts of the Continent 

 of Europe ; is found eastward as far as Japan ; westward 

 over North America and the United States, and was ob- 

 tained by Captain Beechey during a voyage to the Pacific 

 and Behring's Straits ; it is probably indigenous to the 

 greater part of the northern hemisphere. 



The Wild Duck is the undoubted origin of many of the 

 varieties of our domestic ducks ; but in these one curious 

 difference of habit is observable : the Wild Duck is strictly 

 monogamous ; our most common domestic ducks, on the con- 

 trary, are polygamous. 



In the adult male the bill is yellowish-green ; the irides 

 hazel ; all the head and the upper half of the neck rich glossy 

 green ; below that a narrow ring of white ; the neck behind 

 and the back greyish chestnut brown, becoming dark on the 



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