THE MALLARD, OR WILD DUCK. 10 v 



and was given by Linnneus. Modern ornithologists write boscas, from the Greek, 

 a small kind of Duck mentioned in Aristotle. 



The Mallard is a common resident species in Greenland, breeding there ; eggs 

 have been found from May 26th to June apth, which is much later than in 

 countries further south ; the eggs are considerably larger than those of the Danish 

 bird. It is an early breeder in England, commencing to nest in the latter part 

 of March. It nests also regularly in Iceland and Arctic Norway. The most 

 southern of its nesting quarters are the Canaries, where a few are resident ; 

 Morocco, where eggs are laid in February ; Spain ; common in Tunis and North 

 Africa ; Sardinia and Corsica. The commonest Duck nesting in Sicily, Palestine, 

 Turkey, and Asia Minor, the plains of the Caucasus, Cyprus. Immense numbers 

 winter in Egypt, Nubia, Northern India, but is much less common in Central 

 India.* Has been seen near Aden in winter. At Gilgit it occurs on migration 

 in autumn and spring, the bulk going further south to winter. It is common 

 near Kandahar in January and February, but leaves by the middle of March. 

 Is a winter visitor to southern China, coming about the end of September, and 

 leaving in April. 



In northern and central Asia it does not seem, according to Dr. A. Von 

 Middendorff, to go further north than the forest zone ; it is common near Archangel. 



On the American side of Bering's Straits a few breed about Michaelaski, in 

 Norton Sound, in latitude 55. The American Ducks of this species go as far 

 south, in winter, as the Gulf of Mexico, and the north part of South America. 



The numbers of Wild Ducks which nest in the British Islands have greatly 

 increased in recent years from the beneficent working of the " Wild Birds Pro- 

 tection Act." t This is particularly noticeable in the low-lying districts of the 

 eastern counties, south of the Humber. 



These local residents, even when their ranks are swelled by foreign immigrants, 

 represent but a mere fraction of the wild fowl which visited the fens before drainage 

 and general cultivation broke up their old haunts. In these times we are told 

 a flock of Wild Ducks has been observed, passing along from the north and 

 north-east, into the East Fen, in a continuous stream for eight hours together. 

 Formerly immense numbers were taken in decoys, for which special mode of 

 capture the eastern counties were famous. The general season for working the 



* In the winter of 1895-6, a good many were shot, about Christinas, in southern India, in the neighbour- 

 hood of Hyderabad. 



t Mr. G. H. Caton Haigh says, that in Merionethshire, the Mallard has greatly increased since the passing 

 of the " Wild Birds Protection Act" of 1880. Large numbers now breed in all the marshes and bogs, and in the 

 rough grass near the shores of the estuaries. A favourite site for a nest is the root of a thick clump of gorse 

 or heather. The first young appear about the third week in April, or early in May. Large flocks of adults of 

 both sexes sometimes appear on the sands in June, probably birds which have hatched off their young. 



