130 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS. [CHAP, xvt 



home three young wild ducks : two of them turned out to be 

 drakes. I sent away my tame drakes, and, in consequence, the 

 next season had a large family of half-bred and whole wild ducks, 

 as the tame and wild breed together quite freely. The wild ducks 

 which have been caught are the tamest of all ; throwing off all 

 their natural shyness, they follow their feeder, and will eat corn 

 out of the hand of any person with whom they are acquainted. 

 The half-bred birds are sometimes pinioned, as they are inclined 

 to fly away for the purpose of maki g their nests at a distance: 

 at other times they never attempt to leave the field in front of 

 the house. A pair or two always breed in the flower-garden. 

 They appear to have a great penchant for forming their nests in 

 certain flower-beds, and they are allowed to have their own way 

 in this respect, as their elegant and high-bred appearance inter- 

 ests even the gardener, enemy as he is to all intruders on his 

 favourite flowers. 



These birds conceal their eggs with great care, and I have 

 often been amused at the trouble the poor duck is put to in 

 collecting dead leaves and straw to cover her eggs, when they 

 are laid in a well-kept flower-bed. I often have a handful of 

 straw laid on the grass at a convenient distance from the nest, 

 which the old bird soon carries off, and makes use of. The 

 drakes, though they take no portion of the nesting labours, 

 appear to keep a careful watch near at hand during the time the 

 duck is sitting. The half-bred birds have a peculiarity in 

 common with the wild duck which is, that they always pair, 

 each drake taking charge of only one duck not, as is the case 

 with the tame ducks, taking to himself half a dozen wives. The 

 young, too, when first hatched, have a great deal of the shyness 

 of wild ducks, showing itself in a propensity to run off and hide 

 in any hole or corner that is at hand. When in full plumage 

 my drakes also have the beautifully mottled feathers above the 

 wing which are so much used in fly-dressing. With regard to 

 the larder, the half-wild ducks are an improvement on both the 

 tame and wild, being superior to either in delicacy and flavour. 

 Their active and neat appearance, too, make them a much more 

 ornamental object (as they walk about in search of worms on the 

 lawn or field) than a waddling, corpulent barn-yard duck. 



There is a very pretty and elegant little duck, which is common 



