Wild Ducks and Duck Decoying. 197 



teal, being resident breeding birds, are the first to 

 become noticeable in winter, and many thousands 

 are annually taken in the few remaining decoys 

 of this country. The mallard is an exceedingly 

 handsome bird, and one of the largest of its kind. 

 It is an early breeder, and soon after the brown 

 duck begins to sit the male moults the whole of 

 its flight feathers. So sudden and simultaneous 

 is this process that for six weeks in summer the 

 usually handsome drake is quite incapable of 

 flight ; and it is probably at this period of its 

 ground existence that the assumption of the 

 duck's plumage is such an aid to protection. 

 The mallard is not strictly a ground builder, as 

 its nest is sometimes at a considerable altitude, 

 nests of a rook and a hawk having been taken 

 advantage of. In such case the young birds are 

 probably brought to the ground in the bill of the 

 old one. To such an extent did the mallard at one 

 time breed among the fens in this country, that it 

 was customary before the young could fly for a 

 number of persons to engage in what was termed a 

 " driving of ducks," when as many as one thousand 

 eight hundred birds have been taken. Although 

 wild and wary under ordinary circumstances, the 

 mallard upon occasion has shown remarkable 

 tameness. In severe weather two hundred birds 

 have assembled upon a pond and accepted oats 

 at not more than an arm's length from the 

 feeder. Under ordinary circumstances the 



