MALLARD. ] 07 



those districts of England and Scotland where a 

 more partial extent of moss or marsh existed, ex- 

 tensive improvements have taken place, and their 

 wonted haunts disturbed, or in a manner de- 

 stroyed. 



In spring, at the beginning of the breeding sea- 

 son, flocks of wild ducks begin to separate into 

 pairs and partially leave their more frequent locali- 

 ties. At this time the female may be frequently 

 seen at a considerable height, pursued by one or 

 more drakes, performing many coy evolutions, fly- 

 ing in circles with extreme rapidity, and keeping 

 up the chase, as it were, for a considerable time. 

 They now either retire to secluded pools or to 

 ditches, and soon after to the boundaries of the 

 morass, or upland pastures, where the nest is ge- 

 nerally made, being almost never placed imme- 

 diately in or very near the great or common ren- 

 dezvous, to which the young are led soon after 

 hatching ; but although the ordinary breeding places 

 are where we have stated, they are sometimes va- 

 ried ; we have known the nest placed on the sum- 

 mit of a precipitous rock enclosed with wood, and 

 the stump of old willows, the fork of an old tree, or 

 some deserted nest, such as that of a crow men- 

 tioned by Mr. Selby, at least thirty feet from the 

 ground, are not unfrequently chosen.* It is com- 



* Mr. Audubon mentions having found the nest of the mal- 

 lard on large prostrate and rotten logs, three feet above the 

 ground, and in the centre cf a corn brake, nearly a mile distant 

 from any water. Orn. Vig. Hi. 169. 



