DUCKS 31 7 



beast-of-prcy or break down from fatigue. When feeding on grass, the grey goose 

 puts its head first on one side and then on the other, in order to bite the blades 

 with the teeth-like plates of its beak. 



The grey goose is the progenitor of the domesticated breed, and when killed 

 young, about the end of harvest time, affords excellent food. This species inhabits 

 the temperate countries of Europe, and is more or less a breeding-bird in the 

 British Isles, many parts of Germany, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Austria- 

 Hungary, Moldavia, Wallachia, Bulgaria, southern Russia, and especially the 

 Dobrudscha. To Turkey, Greece and Asia Minor, it is a winter-visitor. A few 

 grey geese winter in south-western Europe, southern France, and Italy, but in 

 Germany there is not one to be found during the cold months. Fully fledged 

 young birds leave central Europe in advance of their parents towards the end 

 of June, the main body following in August, but some stragglers linger on 

 till September and the beginning of October. Their departure takes place quietly ; 

 but they are very noisy on their return at the end of February or in March. They 

 generally fly in large V-shaped flocks, usually known as " skeins " ; and they swim 

 with their breast deeper in the water than ducks and draw less water aft. 



Mallard or Ordinary ducks, of which the mallard (Anas boscas) is the 



Wild Duck, typical representative, swim relatively high, with the axis of the 

 body resting almost horizontally on the water, and the tail well up above the 

 surface. They dive comparatively seldom, and try to escape by flight when in 

 danger. The nest of the wild duck is placed under willows and alder bushes, 

 among reeds and marsh-plants, in grass, in hollow trees, even in the abandoned 

 nests of crows or birds-of-prey, and consists of dry grass and dead leaves 

 loosely thrown together, with a shallow depression in the centre. In the 

 beginning of April it contains from eight to fourteen smooth eggs, of a greenish 

 or greyish white colour, indistinguishable from those of the domesticated 

 duck. It is said that when the young are hatched on trees the old duck 

 carries them down to the water in her beak ; but some observers have seen the 

 young birds simply drop down from the nest, and run to the nearest water with 

 their mother, who takes them to some quiet, safe place, shelters them beneath her 

 wings, and teaches and leads them about until they are fully fledged. At the 

 approach of an enemy the old bird flutters away as if lame to draw attention 

 to herself, then escapes, to return after a long interval to the ducklings, which 

 have dived into the water and come up some distance away, hidden if possible 

 among water-plants with only their beaks and eyes above the surface so as to be 

 difficult of detection. Wild duck are practically omnivorous and very greedy birds. 

 By day they keep together on the water, but in the evening generally rise, and 

 during the night separate to different feeding-places in swamps and marshes. In 

 June, when they begin to moult, they assemble in flocks ; towards the end of June 

 they lose the feathers of their wings and tail, and, being then unable to fly, hide 

 carefully away in secluded ponds among bushes and reeds. In common with other 

 ducks, the mallard is much more brilliantly coloured than his partner in the 

 breeding-season, but during part of the year when the males are in the so-called 

 eclipse plumage, the two sexes are practically alike. In October the young birds 

 lose their juvenile plumage and return with their parents to the open waters, 



