304 SWIMMERS. 



Although it is most natural for all those birds whose young 

 run as soon as they are hatched, to deposit their eggs on 

 the ground, in the Mallard we have some curious exceptions. 

 It is asserted by a person of veracity in England that a 

 half-domesticated Duck was known to nest in a tower, where 

 she hatched her young, and brought them down in safety to 

 a piece of water at a considerable distance. INIr. Tunstall 

 mentions one at Etchingham, in Sussex, which was found 

 sitting upon nine eggs, on an oak twenty-five feet from the 

 ground ; and in another instance one was known to take pos- 

 session of the nest of a Hawk in a large oak. Though believed 

 to be monogamous, the fact is doubtful, as during the season 

 of incubation the Mallards are seen to congregate apart from 

 the Ducks as among other polygamous birds. Indeed, so little 

 is the male interested in the fate of the brood he has procre- 

 ated that the female, as incubation advances, is assiduous to 

 hide herself from the company of her indifferent mate ; she 

 steals to her nest with caution, and sits on her eggs with the 

 greatest pertinacy and instinctive affection. When the young 

 are hatched in situations remote from water, the parent is 

 seen to transport them to it by carrying them gently in her 

 bill. In the evening the mother retires into the reeds, and 

 broods her young under her wings for the night. Almost from 

 the moment of hatching, the Ducklings swim and dive with the 

 greatest address, employing themselves often in catching gnats 

 and other insects on which they at first principally feed ; but 

 though so alert and well provided for their aquatic Hfe, their 

 aerial progress is slow, as the growth of their wings is very tardy, 

 these continuing short and misshapen for near six weeks, and 

 the bird can scarcely attempt to fly in less than three months. 

 This protracted infancy necessarily indicates the necessity of 

 pairing early in the season ; and in the milder parts of Europe 

 the males, jealous and quarrelsome with each other, begin 

 towards the close of February already to address their mates. 



Wild Ducks at all times show more activity in the night 

 than in the day. They feed, migrate, arrive, and depart 

 chiefly in the evening and in the night. In the dusk the 



