THE BOOK OF MIGRATORY BIRDS 



47 



gift, and contained water-birds and waders captured by 

 the fishermen and their lads. 



A very good authority remarks : Verily, one man's 

 meat is another's poison, and the iron-bound ground which 

 puts a stop to hunting and spoils other winter sport comes 

 as a boon to the fowler. Early and late he is enjoying 

 sport. He steals off in the morning, and obtains a bag, 

 often before his neighbours are out of bed. Again, in the 

 evening he is flight-shooting, sheltered, if possible, from 

 the keen wintry blast, until silhouetted against the western 

 sky he sees a thin line which warns him of the approach 

 of fowl, travelling at, perhaps, sixty miles an hour. Maybe 

 they will pass near his hiding-place, if it be well chosen, 

 and he may have time for a double-barrelled salute before 

 the advance guard sweeps away into the darkness. Then 

 he reloads the gun and puts it at ease to await the next 

 chance. The various species of wild fowl sought by the 

 gunner may be set down as legion. 



The remark that a duck will live anywhere, upon any- 

 thing, is almost correct. We might call him omnivorous. 

 This more especially applies to the domesticated variety, 

 which has a predilection for refuse, and a shame-faced love 

 for anything too "high" for other inhabitants of the 

 farmyard. His wild cousin is, in most cases, far more 

 particular. Indeed, unless in a starving condition, he is 

 epicurean in his tastes. Even as the canvas-back duck, 

 beloved of the gourmet, obtains his distinctive flavour from 

 a diet of the delicate wild celery, so the mallard wants one 

 quality of food the best and nearly always contrives to 

 get it. Succulent herbage, seakale, mollusc, Crustacea, 

 grain, berries, and pulse form part of his bill of fare. 

 He fattens on the stubble fields inland, and then flies to 

 the ooze beside river and estuary to plunge his sensitive 

 bill in the soft mud and distil nourishment therefrom in the 

 shape of amphibious insect life. Compared with the 

 domestic bird, it is an instance of Hyperion to a satyr. 

 Domesticity has infected the tame duck with a waddle and 

 dimmed his lustre. At mating time, when the wild variety 



