AQUATIC FOWL. 153 



open sea, and desert their breeding ground, about the middle of 

 September. They are found in all parts of England and Ireland, 

 where the localities favour their breeding, and range to the very 

 north of Scotland, and to Orkney, and are found on most of the 

 shores of Europe. They are easily kept in confinement, where 

 they have access to water, and form a very handsome ornament, 

 but they do not breed freely under restraint. Both the Horticul- 

 tural and Zoological Societies have bred them, and Mr. Trumble, 

 of county Dublin, has been a successful breeder of them for many 

 years. The young birds have not the bright colour, or decided 

 markings of the old ; the chestnut colours are more of a blackish 

 brown, and he white is clouded with gray ; they are altogether 

 less brilliant than the adult birds. 



The Ruddy Sheildrake has been shot near Dublin, and added to 

 the collection of Thomas William Warren, Esq., of Blessington- 

 street. 



THE COMMON WILD DOCK, OR MALLARD OF BRITISH AUTHORS, 



Is abundant, and very commonly distributed over all our islands ; 

 but the draining and reclamation of land, has very considerably 

 diminished their numbers, and the produce of the decoys, in the 

 fens, which formerly furnished a handsome income to the followers 

 of the occupation, is now getting reduced. They are the origin 

 of our domestic duck, and are spread over the northern and 

 temperate portions of Europe, Asia, and America. They are 

 everywhere migratory birds, and although they breed abundantly, 

 in our islands, and the adjacent parts of the Continent, yet 

 their great rendezvous is in the higher latitudes, whence, on the 

 approach of winter, vast flocks wing their way southwards, visit- 

 ing marshes, lakes, and rivers, and returning northwards early 

 in spring, or separate into pairs, and partially leave their more 

 frequent localities. They now either retire to secluded pools, or 

 to ditches, and soon after to upland pastures, where the nest is 

 generally made, being, almost, never placed immediately in, or 

 near the great or common rendezvous, to which the young are 

 led, soon after hatching. They sometimes vary their place of 

 nesting, being seen on the summit of a precipitous rock ; and 

 Mr. Selby mentions having found a wild duck hatching her eggs 

 in a deserted crow's nest, thirty feet from the ground. It is 

 usually constructed of dried grass, or vegetable substances, and 

 warmly lined with the down from the parent bird. I have known 

 a half-domesticated duck to build' her nest and hatch out her 



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