THE DUCK 101 



the common welfare. At the first appearance of 

 danger the cry of alarm is sounded, a sort of hoarse 

 clarion call. Immediately the flock takes wing or 

 dives under the water. In descending from the 

 upper air and alighting on a suitable spot, the cau- 

 tious bird is equally prudent. The flock comes and 

 goes several times, and circles about repeatedly to 

 give the place a thorough examination. If nothing 

 disquieting appears, it descends in an oblique flight, 

 grazes the surface of the water with the tips of its 

 wings, and then swims to the middle of the pond, 

 far from the shore where the danger would be great- 

 est. Nothing, then, is more difficult than to catch a 

 flock of wild ducks off their guard. The hunter has 

 recourse to a ruse and turns to his own account the 

 friendly relations that always exist between the tame 

 duck and its brother, the wild duck. Hidden on the 

 edge of the pond in a reed hut, he releases two or 

 three tame ducks, whose cries call the strangers and 

 bring them within gunshot. 



" Although the laying of eggs generally takes 

 place in the northern regions, there are always a 

 few pairs of ducks that linger and make their nests 

 with us, either from being tired with too long a 

 journey or because they have strayed away from 

 the migrating flocks. For her nesting place, the 

 mother chooses some cluster of reeds in the middle 

 of the swamp. She beats down and flattens the cen- 

 tral rushes; then, using her beak to intertwine the 

 outer ones, she succeeds in weaving a kind of coarse 

 basket, which she lines with warm down, plucked 



