284 A YEAR OF SPORT AND NATURAL HISTORY. 



eatable ; while the surface-feeding Ducks who are, if I mistake not, 

 eaters of vegetable matter only haunt the sea only occasionally, 

 and love best the river, the reedy pool, and the marsh. The 

 surface-feeding ducks comprise the mallard, or common wild duck, 

 the teal, shoveller and garganey, the pintail and the widgeon all 

 birds that give excellent sport in the marsh and by the river-side, 

 and make an excellent dish in the kitchen. From this latter point 

 of view, it may be remarked that they probably owe their agreeable 

 flavour, not so much to any intrinsic culinary virtue of their own, as 

 to the fact that they feed on the wholesome weeds that grow in 

 fresh water ; while the non-cookable fowl feed among the fishy, 

 briny slime of the sea-bottom. I n proof of which it may be observed 

 that the diving pochard is only good to eat when he resorts to fresh 

 water, and then he is very good ; while the non-diving widgeon 

 loses all fitness for the spit or oven when he goes to sea, as he is 

 far too fond of doing. 



There is no easier bird to approach in his inland haunts and 

 none easier to kill flying, and none better to cook and eat than the 

 common Wild Duck. All this is particularly the case if he be found 

 in some such rich inland feeding-grounds as our Norfolk Broads. 

 Here a succession of shallow lakes, rich in all the water-weeds that 

 make good duck-food, are margined with reeds and rushes, and 

 interspersed with patches of land that are seldom dry enough to 

 grow aught but the osier and the alder. Through this paradise 

 for the Duck and his human enemy, the shooter may wander in his 

 punt passing quietly through the dividing reeds, and entering one 

 after the other of these silent pools. Every here and there he will 

 come unseen into the midst of companies of mallards, teals, pintails 

 and gadwalls ; and get the best of sport and the easiest of shots. 



