218 REMINISCENCES OP A SPOETSMAN. 



examined it and found she had a nest built of sticks 

 and grass, containing six eggs, placed at the junction 

 of the branches and main stem. On carefully mea- 

 suring the height, he found the nest was exactly fifteen 

 feet from the ground. As soon as hatched the young 

 ones take to the water, and it is very amusing to see the 

 activity and quickness which the little fellows display in 

 catching insects and flies as they skim along the surface 

 of the water, led on by the parent bird, who takes the 

 greatest care of them, bustling about with all the hurry 

 and importance of a barn-door hen. Presently she 

 gives a low warning quack, as a hawk or carrion crow 

 passes in a suspicious manner over them. One cry is 

 enough ; away all the little ones dart into the rushes 

 screaming and fluttering, while the old bird, with head 

 flat on the water and upturned eye, slowly follows them, 

 but not until she sees them all out of danger. After 

 a short time, if the enemy has disappeared, the old bird 

 peers cautiously from her covert, and if she makes up 

 her mind that all is safe, she calls forth her offspring 

 again to feed and sport in the open water." 



The number of wild ducks taken in decoys is amaz- 

 ing ; these birds are generally contracted for, including 

 widgeons, teals, &c., by the poulterers in London and 

 other provincial towns, at so much per dozen— many 

 years since at eighteen shillings a dozen, but the price is 

 increased to four and twenty or even thirty shillings a 

 dozen. Decoys for taking wild ducks are not so nume- 

 rous as formerly, on account of the active system of 

 drainage. They are generally situated in a marsh, so 

 as to be closely surrounded with weeds and rushes, in 

 order to keep the pond as quiet as possible, (for wild 



