28 THE FOWLER IN IRELAND. 



CHAPTER III. 



Surface Ducks Duck and Mallard Flighting Flappers Albino 

 Mallard Hybrids Wigeon Their Habits Good Shots 

 Wigeon in Decoys Nesting Pintail Shoveller Gadwall 

 Teal Garganey Sheldrake Ruddy Sheldrake. 



THE WILD DUCK (Anas boschas) is common to every 

 part of Ireland. There are, however, two varieties, 

 the home-bred birds, or, as they are sometimes called, 

 " mountain ducks," and the emigrants that visit Ire- 

 land annually. The former are not so well formed 

 as the latter, being heavier in weight, and of a 

 clumsier shape ; the visitors, from their active habits 

 and wing-exercise, are smaller and neater in form. 

 The home-bred ducks are the best-conditioned till 

 frost, when, from being of a less hardy nature, they 

 suffer most. The latter, on inspection, can easily be 

 distinguished from the strangers ; they do not affect 

 the company of the others, and keep apart. I have 

 shot half a dozen duck and mallard from one 

 " paddling," and, putting them aside, have subse- 

 quently obtained as many more some miles off; the 

 former, home-breds I conclude, each weighed just 

 a half-pound heavier than the latter, presumedly the 

 foreigners. They are called " heavy duck " for this 

 reason in some localities ; in others, merely to dis- 

 tinguish them from the smaller species, such as 

 Wigeon and Teal. This difference is so well known 



