210 SURFACE-FEEDING DUCKS. 



Eggs. — 8-12, pale gray-green; 2-25 x 1-6 inches 

 (plate 131). 



Nest. — Of grass, lined with down, and placed 

 usually upon the ground near to water, but at times 

 at some little distance from it. Not uncommonly 

 the nest is placed in some higher situation, such as 

 on a pollard, in a hole in a tree, even in an old nest 

 of another bird. 



This is the commonest of our fresh- water Ducks, 

 breeding throughout the United Kingdom, its numbers 

 being greatly augmented in the winter by migrants 

 from the Continent. At that time it is found in 

 flocks large and small, frequenting the seacoast, 

 marshes, and lakes. Its food is chiefly vegetable, 

 consisting of various aquatic weeds and plants ; but 

 it includes also worms, slugs, insects, crustaceans, 

 molluscs, &c. The narrow white collar is the dis- 

 tinguishing mark of the drake, and this is visible all 

 the 3^ear, excepting the period of the summer moult. 

 During that time the drake assumes plumage resem- 

 bling that of the duck, but in the autumn resumes 

 his own distinctive colouring. This peculiarity is 

 common to all species of ducks, the only broad dis- 

 tinction at such times consisting in the generally 

 darker tone of the drakes. 



GAD WALL.— Plate 92. 20 inches. Upper parts 

 dusky- brown, finely mottled and vermiculated ; lower 

 back darker, becoming black near the tail ; cheeks, 

 throat, and chest white, minutely spotted and barred 

 with blackish-gray ; remaining under parts white, but 



