WILD DUCK 87 



As Mr. Hewitson observes, "We should scarcely expect 

 to find the nest of the Wild Duck in a tree, and yet 

 several instances have occurred in which it has chosen for 

 itself a site thus elevated, and apparently uncongenial to its 

 usual habits. Mr. Kute has met with a nest of this species 

 in the grounds of Castle Howard, in a large oak tree, 

 twenty-five feet above the ground, and fifty yards from the 

 edge of the water. Mr. Marmaduke Tunstall speaks of 

 one at Etchingham, in Sussex, which was built in an oak 

 tree twenty-five feet above the ground, and contained nine 

 eggs ; and Mr. Selby says that a Wild Duck laid its eggs 

 in the nest of a Crow, at least thirty feet from the ground." 

 This was at Madeley, in Staffordshire. The drake was 

 also seen to perch on a bough near her, and occasionally 

 in her absence sat on the nest. Others have been found 

 at a height of ten and eighteen feet. 



In Daniel's " Rural Sports," mention is made of the 

 deserted nest of a Hawk in a large oak having been 

 appropriated and repaired by a Wild Duck, and two eggs 

 laid in it ; and Montagu speaks of one built between the 

 trunk and the boughs of a large elm tree, and of another 

 in a willow tree overhanging some water. Meyer mentions 

 one found by him on the stump of an old willow tree ; and 

 Mr. G. B. Clarke, one built on the fragment of a broken 

 branch of an oak about twelve feet from the ground, and 

 a foot and a half from the trunk. Another, recorded by 

 Mr. A. Foster-Melliar, containing nine eggs, was placed in 

 a pollard willow tree, twelve feet from the ground-surface, 

 and a hundred yards from any water. A nest was found 

 at Thornton Abbey, in Lincolnshire, near the top of a large 

 ivy-covered ash tree ; and another in an old ruin. Sir 

 William Jardine mentions one built on the top of a pre- 



