MALLARD 



A 



nas 



oscas 



HE Mallard is the commonest, and during the breeding 

 season the most widely distributed, of all the British 

 ducks ; and although most of our tame farmyard ducks 

 are originally descended from the Mallard, no other of our 

 wild ducks can surpass it in wariness or cunning. 



During a hard winter the Mallard betakes itself to 

 the springs and rapid streams, which it otherwise very 

 seldom frequents, as it prefers to sleep on the water, and should these become 

 frozen up, they will migrate to the nearest sea-coast, where they remain till 

 thaw sets in, and they know that they can return to their accustomed haunts. 

 During the severe winter of 1894-95 I saw immense flocks of Mallards on 

 several parts of our coast, especially about the Fame Islands off Northumberland, 

 some of which must have consisted of thousands of birds, as they formed quite 

 a dense black cloud when they flew to their feeding-ground at sunset. 



When disturbed on the water the Mallard rises in the air at once, and 

 flies rapidly away up wind for preference ; they seldom dive unless wounded. 

 Their flight is rapid and powerful, and each whistling stroke of their wings 

 can be distinctly heard at some distance, especially on a calm night. When a 

 pair of wild ducks are disturbed, the duck generally takes to her wings first, 

 the drake following. 



The food of the Mallard is very varied. It will greedily devour all kinds 

 of animal life found in the water, and the shoots of most water-plants. On a 

 wet day it may be seen catching the snails and earthworms in the fields ; 

 and often in the autumn it descends on the stubble-fields to pick up any 

 grain which is left. The sides of its bill are provided with very sensitive 

 lamina, through which it sifts the mud, and retains anything eatable. Mallards 

 will feed in this manner on the mud-flats in estuaries on the darkest nights, 



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