248 WILD LIFE ON A NORFOLK ESTUARY 



Some ducks hailing from Mautby decoy, of a very dark 

 variety with a white bar on the wing, which made them easily 

 distinguishable as belonging to the same brood, were killed 

 at various times. Undoubtedly they were the offspring of a 

 wild mallard and a strangely coloured tame duck. Crosses 

 between the mallard and gaily marked tame fowl were by no 

 means rare at one time, and were distinguished by the name 

 of marsh ducks. 



When walking up and down the ranks of Yarmouth 

 market, on January 2Oth, 1906, as is my usual custom on 

 Saturdays, during the shooting season, in search of any in- 

 teresting fowl that may turn up, I was attracted by an odd- 

 looking duck hanging with a mallard on a stall. On closer 

 inspection I found it to be a remarkably pretty hybrid 

 between a mallard and a black East Indian duck. The 

 head was glossy greenish black, as was the back. Underneath 

 the bird was a patch of white, with another spot of white on 

 the " throat," and the breast was a dark brown. The black 

 feet were small, the toes only showing a brown streak, and 

 the black, upper mandible was relieved by a light brown 

 patch on either side. The bird was in fine condition, and 

 undoubtedly a male. I should have purchased it for the 

 Tolhouse Museum, but the good woman "couldn't for the 

 life on her " say the price of it, as her husband had not " set 

 the figger." 



Her Grace the Duchess of Bedford, to whom I mentioned 

 this incident, replied : " Crosses between common mallard 

 and black East India ducks are common whenever they are 

 kept together. We have them here [Woburn], and I have 

 seen them at Lord Portsmouth's place in Hampshire, and in 

 Scotland on the Tay. . . ." 



SCAUP DUCK 



The scaup duck (Fuligula marild) does not often put in 

 an appearance here until driven in by hard weather, from 

 which circumstance it is known as the "hard fowl." For 

 some unaccountable reason, unless there had been some 

 rough weather " farther north," a decided migration of this 

 species was observed in the neighbourhood in October, 1898. 



