THE MALLARD. 77 



pushing tlieir fortunes in the. broad bay. As I advanced 

 they took wing, which undeceived me, and I Brought 

 them down. They proved to be an adult male and 

 female. From this circumstance I was led to suppose 

 that they had bred in the neighborhood. I made a dili- 

 gent search, and offered a sufficient bounty to induce 

 others to search with me but neither nest nor young 

 could be found. Probably when migrating, they were 

 shot at and so badly wounded as to be unable to perform 

 their fatiguing journey, perhaps miles apart, and per^ 

 chance only found companions in each other a short 

 time before I shot them." 



"When the young birds are about three-fourths grown, 

 and not as yet fully fledged or able to fly strongly, at 

 which age they are termed flappers, they afford excellent 

 sport over water-spaniels, when they are abundant in 

 large reed beds along the brink of ponds and rivers. 

 When full grown, moreover, when they frequent parts 

 of the country where the streams are narrow and wind- 

 ing, great sport can be had with them at times, by 

 walking about twenty yards wide of the brink and as 

 many in advance of an attendant, who should follow all 

 the windings of the water and flush the birds, which 

 springing wide of him will so be brought within easy 

 range of the gun. 



The Mallard is wonderfully quick-sighted and sharp 

 of hearing, so that it is exceedingly difficult to stalk him 

 from the shore, especially by a person coming down 



