12 WILD DUCK. 



noticed, seemed delighted; this continued till some other 

 Ducks were procured, when, being constantly driven out ot 

 the house, it gradually associated itself with its more natural 

 companions.' 



The following occurs in the 'Naturalist,' vol. iv, page 43, 

 from the pen of John Dixon, Esq., of Leeds: 'A nest of 

 this shy bird was found by a lad amongst a clump of sedge 

 near the Eccup reservoir; he took the eggs home, and out 

 of curiosity they were set under a Domestic Duck, and in 

 process of time all hatched. The young brood seemed to 

 take very kindly to their foster-parent, and grew remarkably 

 tame, which lasted until they were well fledged, when their 

 natural wildness appeared to be slowly returning. The company 

 of their domestic congeners was now too tame for them, and 

 they generally kept to themselves, paying frequent visits to 

 the not-far-distant reservoir, but always returning to the 

 farm-yard; a sudden noise, or the presence of dogs, etc., 

 would start them up, and away they would go again for the 

 still waters. This continued until one day a gun was dis- 

 charged very near them, when one and all took to their 

 wings and never afterwards returned. I believe that many 

 attempts have been made to restrain the natural wildness of 

 this beautiful bird, but I can hear of no instance where 

 the experiment has been perfectly successful in reconciling it 

 to domestic life. While writing this, the recollection of 

 another curious circumstance comes fresh to my memory. 



During a visit to some friends at Wiston, many years ago, 

 I was often amused with the eccentricities of an old Goose, 

 who had seemingly forsaken his own kindred, and formed a 

 friendly alliance with a . flock of Ducks, in the midst of 

 which he was always to be found, either afloat or ashore, 

 indeed any approach to his own tribe generally met with a 

 rebuff; but he was of a peaceable turn, and not the Goose 

 to pick up a questionable quarrel, so these insults were never 

 retaliated but by a hiss. On inquiry into this strange 

 friendship, I was given to understand that the venerable 

 Goose had been hatched under a Duck, whose motherly 

 kindness he still evidently cherishes, in the fact of his 

 sticking to the family group ever after, in the midst of 

 which he probably still maintains a conspicuous place.' 



The Wild Duck, like so many other birds, evinces great 

 anxiety for her young if approached by any hostile, or 

 supposed-to-be-hostile, intruder, scurrying and flapping along 



