MALLARD DUCK. S31 
rice. They have been there for perhaps weeks, undis- 
turbed. Instinct prompts them to lay their eggs, to 
bring up their young; it also tells them they should go 
farther North, far beyond the possibility of human in- 
terference. But a few dislike leaving a place which 
they have become attached to,—so they make their 
nests, lay their eggs and rear their brood. This does 
not often happen, still it does once ina while. Late 
in May I have found their nests, and unintentionally 
routed off the mother bird. Once, while after prairie 
chickens, my dog drove into the water, from the tall 
grass at the edge of a large pond, the parent duck with 
her flock of half-grown youngsters. This was in this 
country on the first of August, years ago. The color, 
size and number of the eggs laid are same as tame 
ducks. The tame or domesticated ducks are descend- 
ents of these wild mallards. One can see a great 
similarity at a glance, and a person may select two 
ducks, one male and one female, from a flock of 
tame ones, and the most experienced duck shooter 
cannot tell the difference between the tame and wild 
ones. . 
After they have hatched their young in the far North, 
and time, practice, and experience have added strength 
and growth to their young bodies, they are ready to start 
out with the old ones, returning to their winter homes 
in the South. They follow the weather, that is, as the 
days grow cool and frost appears, they go but a slight 
distance, then stop, feed and rest. The desire to move 
along, the inherited love of wandering, induces some 
to move still farther forward. In this way the rivers, 
ponds and marshes are filled with them in the places 
where they are known to frequent. At times most ex- 
