MALLARD OE WILD-DUCK. 197 



but thickly grown vip with bur-reeds and flags. In May, 

 1879, I saw a Wild Duck fly from her nest in the fork of 

 a beech tree, in Blenheim Park, fully twelve feet from the 

 ground, the tree being at least a couple of yards from the 

 bank of the lake. Since the successive passing of the Wild- 

 fowl and Wild Birds Preservation Acts, which have gradually 

 become effective, the number of Wild Ducks breeding in the 

 county at large has considerably increased. 



In winter large numbers of Wild Ducks often arrive in 

 the county, especially when the valleys are flooded ; and 

 ' flighting,^ or shooting the ducks as they fly from the sheets 

 of water where they have passed the day, to their feeding- 

 grounds at night, may then be practised with some success. 

 The ducks leave the water where they have rested in security 

 during the day a little after sunset, and after much noisy 

 quacking wing their way to the feeding-grounds, returning 

 soon after it is light in the morning. Early in the season 

 the fields where the barley is still uncarried, and the wheat 

 stubbles, are visited by the home-bred birds, and in winter, 

 after the arrival of the migrants, the smaller streams, and 

 especially the wet meadows, are resorted to, especially if 

 there should be large floods in some parts of the valley, at 

 which time thousands of ducks may sometimes be seen. On 

 the deeper floods the birds sit out on the water all day, secure 

 from all attacks, making their way at evening to feed on 

 those meadows which are only slightly covered with water. 

 These larger flocks are migrants from a distance, though not 

 necessarily from abroad. In some winters, however, ducks are 

 killed which can readily be distinguished from our home-bred 

 birds. Slightly smaller and neater in appearance, the Mal- 

 lards are brighter in plumage, with the colours purer and 

 more clearly defined, the legs and feet almost vermilion 

 colour; the ducks are darker in colour, with more distinctly 

 spotted underparts. A drake of this kind, in fine condition, 

 will weigh two pounds ten oimces, and a duck half-a-pound 



