THE GAME -DUCKS. 



177 



arrivals of both species keep occurring till the end of October, 

 by which period the full complement of their winter num- 

 bers is made up. 



In my opinion the whole, or, at any rate, the vast majority, 

 of our sea- coast Mallards are foreigners. A few broods of 

 native Mallards from the sand-links or immediate vicinity of 

 the coast-line may perhaps join the foreign legions on their 

 arrival here, but that is all. The inland, native-bred Mal- 

 lards are extremely sedentary birds, and remain constantly, 

 all the year round, in the neighbourhood of the moors and 

 marshes where they were bred. These birds never, of their 

 own choice, come down to the coast, or to the tidal estuaries. 



WIGEON ON THE " SLAKE "-HAKD FROST. 



In very severe weather, when their regular haunts are all 

 frozen or snowed up, they are obliged to have recourse to the 

 open waters of the coast, but on the break-up of the frost at 

 once return (within a few hours) to their inland home. 



The return migration northwards takes place in March, 

 As early as the end of February, in mild seasons, we have 

 evidence of the commencement of the great migratory move- 

 ment, and its concluding stages are still perceptible in April, 

 and even sometimes into May. But March is .the month 

 when the withdrawal of these ducks is in full operation, and, 

 in average seasons, the great bulk of them leave our coasts 

 during its concluding week. 



Wigeon, on their first arrival, about mid- September, and 



