THE GADWALL 289 



towards any other species of duck frequenting the 

 same haunt. 



Early morning is the surest time to observe 

 the Gadwall, when the birds like ourselves are 

 enjoying the freshness of a Norfolk spring 

 dawn. Then they are up and stirring, flying, 

 generally in pairs or small lots, in wide, 

 vagrant circles, now over the " brecks ' and 

 any coverts adjoining the stream, now above 

 the stream itself and its wooded quagmires. 

 Generally at an easy elevation, they sometimes 

 ascend to a good height, when (there would, per- 

 haps, be four or five together) high revelry may 

 be held. At first one chases another. Then the 

 tables are turned ; pursuer becomes pursued. Then 

 all take the air. A certain pitch is reached, and 

 down they all come again, still on the slant, and 

 often diving about curiously, aerial tactics which, 

 with slight modifications, are common to most 

 ducks during the breeding-season. At another 

 time, as a pair flash over a patch of water, a third 

 Gadwall a drake, who certainly has a sitting 

 duck not very far away rises dripping from the 

 pool and buffets the intruding drake of the pair 

 smartly. Periodically, tiring of their aerial play, 

 they will descend waterwards, each pair to its 

 respective domain, pitching with infinite ease ; and 

 mid-stream, or at any rate a spot well removed 

 from prospective danger, is vastly preferred to the 

 margin of the water. Occasionally one will seek 



