120 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS. [CHAP. xvi. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



Wild Ducks: Edible kinds of Breeding-places of Mallards Change of 

 Plumage Shooting Feeding-places Half-bred Wild Ducks Anas 

 glacialis Anas clangula: Habits of Teeth of Goosander Cormorants 

 Anecdotes. 



A FEW years ago I used to see a great many scaup ducks in the 

 pools and burns near the coast, but now it is very seldom that 

 I meet with a single bird of this kind; the last which I killed 

 here was in the month of July. This is one of the few ducks 

 frequenting the shore which has not a rank or fishy flavour : out 

 of the numerous varieties of birds of the duck kind, I can 

 only enumerate four that are really good eating, namely, the 

 common mallard, the widgeon, the teal, and the scaup duck. 

 The best of these is the mallard : with us, they breed principally 

 about the most lonely lochs and pools in the hills ; sometimes 

 I have seen these birds during the breeding-season very far up 

 among the hills : a few hatch and rear their young about the 

 rough ground and mosses near the sea, but these get fewer and 

 fewer every year, in consequence of the increase of draining and 

 clearing which goes on in all the swamps arid wild grounds. 



Some few breed in furze-bushes and quiet corners near the 

 mouth of the river, and may be seen in some rushy pool, accom- 

 panied by a brood of young ones. Though so wild a bird, they 

 sit close, allowing people to pass veiy near to them without 

 moving. When they leave their nest, the eggs are always care- 

 fully concealed, so that a careless observer would never suppose 

 that the heap of dried leaves and grass that he sees under a bush 

 covers twelve or thirteen duck's eggs. 



Occasionally a wild duck fixes on a most unlikely place to 

 build her nest in ; for instance, on a cleft of a rock, where you 

 would rather expect to find a pigeon or jackdaw building, and I 

 once, when fishing in a quiet brook in England, saw a wild duck 

 fly out of an old pollard oak-tree. My curiosity being excited 



