"The Confessions of a c Poacher. 37 



up between us. The young ducks brought us 

 good prices, and there was another source of 

 income which paid well, but was not of long 

 duration. There is a short period in each year 

 when even the matured wild ducks are quite 

 unable to fly. The male of the common wild 

 duck is called the mallard, and soon after his 

 brown duck begins to sit the drake 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 as- 

 sumption of the duck's plumage is such an aid 

 to protection. Quite the handsomest of the 

 wildfowl on the marsh were a colony of shel- 

 drakes which occupied a number of disused 

 rabbit-burrows on a raised plateau overlooking 

 the bay. The ducks were bright chestnut, 

 white, and purple, and in May laid from nine 

 to a dozen creamy eggs. As these birds 

 brought high prices for stocking ornamental 

 waters, we used to collect the eggs and hatch 

 them out under hens in the turf cottage. This 



