CHAPTER X. 



WILD DUCKS AND DUCK DECOYING. 



THERE is no European country, however fortu- 

 nately situated, which has so many species of 

 wild-fowl as Britain. This is partly owing to 

 its insular position, and partly to the food- 

 abounding seas which are on every coast. In 

 their primitive condition these islands must have 

 constituted a very paradise for wild-fowl, and we 

 know that the marsh and fen lands of the south- 

 eastern counties were breeding haunts of myriads 

 of fowl not more than two centuries ago. Even 

 now there are nearly thirty species of wild duck 

 which are either resident or annual visitants to our 

 marine and inland waters. Nearly half of these 

 are now known to have bred within the British 

 Isles, the remaining ones coming from the north 

 only at the severity of winter. 



Wild ducks divide themselves into two natural 

 groups according to habit and the manner in 

 which they obtain their food. Sportsmen and 

 fowlers refer to those divisions as "surface" 



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