WILD AND TAME DUCK. 199 



generally as often as five times in the year. The quills 

 are only plucked once a year, about Lady-day. Geese 

 seldom breed more than once in the season, and usually 

 rear about seven young ones. As soon as these make 

 their appearance abroad, the gander assumes a self-impor- 

 tant character. He now becomes the champion to defend 

 his mate and her progeny ; pursues dogs, and even men ; 

 but, if the least opposition be made, he immediately 

 retreats. He hisses and stretches out his neck, as though 

 he were furnished with the most powerful weapons of 

 annoyance; and, when the object of his animosity has 

 retired, he returns to the female, screaming and clapping 

 his wings in the most triumphant manner. The flesh of 

 the Goose, both in a wild and tame state, is in great re- 

 quest for the table. 



Wild and Tame Duck. Wild Ducks quit the northern 

 parts of the world about the end of autumn, and, 

 migrating southward, arrive in large flocks in the 

 marshes of various parts of England, especially the 

 fens of Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire. They princi- 

 pally breed in the north, but many of the stragglers 

 continue with us throughout the whole year. Their 

 nests are formed in the most sequestered parts of the 

 marshes, generally far removed from the haunts of man. 

 Here the females lay from ten to sixteen greenish-white 

 eggs. The contrivances for catching these birds are 

 various: the principal is in what are termed decoys. 

 These consist of a large pond surrounded with wood, 

 and situated in a marshy and uncultivated country. In 

 the decoys are kept Tame Ducks, that are so trained as to 

 entice the wild species, which flock thither as to a place 

 of retreat and for food, into nets laid for the purpose of 



