THE WILD DUCK 319 



lings one by one to the ground in her beak ; and it is not 

 improbable that they are always thus conveyed to the water, 

 should it be at any considerable distance from their birth- 

 place. When on the water the little creatures are lively 

 enough and dive at the approach of danger ; but here they 

 have many enemies, and the hungry Hawks and Crows will 

 often snatch them from the mother's side without her showing 

 any sign of resistance. The duck often leads her brood to 

 the tiny streamlets, and when surprised in such a place she 

 shows no anxiety whatever for her own safety, but flutters 

 and drags herself along the ground almost at your very feet, 

 full of distress for her helpless little ones. These little duck- 

 lings are wonderfully wary, and hide themselves under the 

 banks arid amongst the grass and heather the moment they 

 are disturbed by the warning note of their mother. 



The food of the Wild Duck is partly composed of animal 

 and partly of vegetable substances. In autumn I have known 

 the bird feed on the stubbles ; seeds and roots of various plants 

 growing in or near the water are also eaten. Then, too, it 

 catches the various small fishes in the shallows, and is ex- 

 tremely fond of frogs, worms, and slugs ; arid the minute 

 animal-life lurking amongst the mud of ponds and rivers is 

 also sought after, the bird's peculiar laminated beak being 

 eminently adapted to such a mode of feeding. Wild Ducks 

 are also expert "flycatchers," and whilst floating on the 

 waters often snap at passing insects. 



It needs not the eyes of Argus to determine that the Wild 

 Duck is the species from which our domestic birds have 

 descended. Man's constant care and selection have increased 

 their size, but enfeebled their wings, and their easy conditions 

 of life under domestication have caused much diversity in 

 their plumage, by letting the tendency to variation extend in 

 many directions, and thus produce by intermarriage all those 

 various tints which now adorn them in the poultry-yards of 



