162 GAD WALL. 



had become naturalised, it is certain that a large number 

 of these fowl breed every season in particular localities, 

 and that the number of summer residents far exceeds 

 that of the autumn and winter visitants. 



On the 6th June, 1881, one of Lord Walsingham's 

 keepers showed me two nests of the gadwall at Stanford, 

 and told me he had found nine nests that season. Those 

 which I saw were placed on sedge tussocks, one, in a 

 very boggy situation, containing ten eggs; the other, 

 which had four eggs, was also on the top of a tussock 

 of sedge, growing out of the shallow water some yards 

 from the shore. Both nests were deep and compact, 

 constructed of dry grasses and sedges, but contained 

 very little down or feathers. In 1882 I paid two visits 

 to the meres on Wretham Heath ; the second time, on 

 the 27th June, I was accompanied by Mr. Stevenson 

 and Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., and for the fiist time in 

 that locality we had the pleasure of seeing the gadwall. 

 It is not improbable, as not one of us had seen these 

 birds on Wretham Heath, that it was the first year of 

 their nesting there. 



On the 22nd April, 1884, Professor Newton was 

 shown two nests at Tottington, and on the 29th May 

 of the same year I found a nest of newly-hatched young 

 on Wretham Heath (some miles from the mere visited 

 by Professor Newton), from which I put off the old bird. 

 The young scattered in all directions, but I caught one, 

 and while I held it in my hand the old duck showed her 

 anxiety by fluttering, apparently broken-winged^ almost 

 at my feet, at the same time calling loudly. 



In 1886 others were seen by Mr. Frank Norgate, who 

 had exceptionally good opportunities of observing them, 

 and has very kindly supplied me with some valuable 

 notes on this and other species of ducks, which I shall 

 frequently have to refer to. Mr. Norgate first identified 

 a pair on May 8th. On May 18th he saw a nest con- 

 taining eleven fresh cream-coloured eggs, from which he 

 put off a duck ga_dwall, it was constructed chiefly of dead 

 leaves with very little down, and situated on the shore 

 of an island. On May 22nd Mr. Norgate again saw 

 the pair of gadwalls to which this nest belonged, flying 

 and swimming together, and remarks that "each iu 



