194 



CHAPTEE XXY. 



The Ducks of Norway. The Eider Ducks. 



PONTOPPIDAN mentions a species of duck, which he 

 calls the stock-and, or log-duck, because it deposited 

 its eggs on a log of wood immersed in the water ; the 

 eggs being hatched by the heat of the sun's rays. 

 This would, probably, be none other than the common 

 wild duck or mallard, which sometimes places its nest 

 among timber partly immersed in the water or in the 

 fork of a decayed tree. Audubon mentions having 

 found the mallard's nest on large and prostrate logs 

 three feet above the ground, in the centre of a corn- 

 brake at a considerable distance from the water. I 

 once found a mallard's nest in the fork of a decayed 

 tree in a gentleman's park in Yorkshire, at several 

 hundred yards from, but in sight of a pond. 



It appears to have been believed in ancient times 

 that certain water-birds, and especially ducks, were 

 generated on the coast of Great Britain from putrefac- 

 tions and fermentations in the water. An old writer 

 says on this subject, ' ' Aves Britannicas non oriri ex 

 arborum frudibus aut foliis, aut ex lignis navium in 



