THE "WILD DUCK.] 



SHOOTING, 



[the wild duck. 



weighs from thirty-six to forty ounces. The 

 bill is of a yellowish hue ; not very flat ; about 

 an inch broad, and two-and-a-half long, from 

 the corners of the mouth to the tip of the nail. 

 The head and upper half of the neck are of a 

 glossy, deep, variable green, terminated in the 

 middle of the neck by a white collar, with 

 which it is nearly encircled. The lower por- 

 tions of the neck, breast, and shoulders, are of 

 a deep vinous chestnut, and the covering scap- 

 ular feathers are of a kind of silvery white, 

 while those underneath are rufous. Both are 

 prettily crossed with waved threads of brown. 

 The wing-coverts are ash ; the quills brown ; 

 and between these intervenes what is called 

 the heauty-spot in the duck tribe, which crosses 

 the closed wiug in a transverse, oblique direc- 

 tion ; it is of a rich glossy purple, with violet 

 or green reflections, and. fringed by a double 

 >treak of white and black. The belly is of a 

 pale grey, delicately pencilled, and crossed with 

 numberless narrow- waved dusky lines, which, 

 on the sides and long feathers that reach over 

 the thighs, are more distinctly marked. The 

 upper and under tail-coverts, the lower part of 

 the back, and the rump, are black ; the latter 

 are glossed with green. The four middle tail- 

 feathers are likewise black, with purple reflec- 

 tions, and, like those of the domestic drake, are 

 stifily curled upwards ; the rest are sharp- 

 pointed, and shaded off to the exterior sides, 

 from a brown to a dull white. The legs, toes, 

 and webs are red. 



The plumage of the female, which is called a 

 flapper, possesses few or none of the beauties of 

 the male, except the spot on his wings. All 

 the other parts are plain brown, marked with 

 black. She makes her nest, lays from ten to 

 sixteen greenish-white eggs, and rears her 

 young generally in the most sequestered mosses 

 or bogs, away from the haunts of man, and 

 hidden from his sight among the reeds and 

 rushes. To her unfledged family (and they 

 are nearly three months old before they can 

 fly) she acts the part of a fond and dutiful 

 parent, carrying or leading them from one pool 

 to another, as her fears and inclinations direct 

 lier ; and she is known, in this country, to use 

 the same wily stratagems to mislead the sports- 

 man and his dog, as those already noticed re- 

 specting the partridge. 



Like most of the duck tribes, the mallards, 

 586 



in vast numbers, leave the north at the end of 

 autumn, and, flying southward, arrive in Great 

 Britain in the beginning of winter, and spread 

 themselves over all the lakes and marshy 

 wastes. They pair in the spring, when the 

 greater part of them again return to the north, 

 to breed during the summer months of com- 

 paratively warm weather and long days. A 

 few straggling birds remain every season with 

 us, and breed. 



It is not at all times that wild duck shoot- 

 ing can be pursued with success. These birds 

 being very shy, considerable art must be 

 employed in endeavouring to bring the 

 shot within range of them. They have fixed 

 times of feeding and visiting certain localities ; 

 and the only way for the sportsman to make 

 sure of them, is to watch their movements, 

 and conceal himself from observation. He 

 may thus often intercept their flight when 

 congregated in considerable numbers, and 

 bring down several at a shot. They are some- 

 times very easily killed, and sometimes not. 

 All depends upon the part of the body which 

 the pellets have struck. Regular wild duck 

 shooters are often very successful in moonlight 

 nights. The birds are then less shy and 

 suspicious. 



Wild ducks frequent the marshy places of 

 many parts of this kingdom ; but nowhere in 

 greater plenty than in Lincolnshire, where 

 prodigious numbers were wont annually to be 

 taken in the decoys. In only ten decoys in 

 the neighbourhood of Wainfleet, as many as 

 thirty-one thousand two hundred have been 

 caught in one season. 



To those who may not know what a decoy 

 is, we may say that it is a pond generally situ- 

 ated in a marsh, so as to be surrounded with 

 wood or reeds, and, if possible, with both, to 

 prevent the birds which frequent it from being 

 disturbed. In this pond the birds sleep dur- 

 ing the day ; and as soon as the evening sets 

 in, the decoy rises (as it is termed), and the 

 wild fowl feed during the night. If the even- 

 ing is still, the noise of their wings during 

 flight is heard at a great distance, and is a 

 pleasing though somewhat melancholy sound. 

 The decoy-ducks (which are either bred in 

 the pond-yard, or in the marshes adjacent, 

 and which, although they fly abroad, regularly 

 return for food to the pond, and mix with the 



