78 VARIETIES OP SHOOTING. 



CHAPTER V. 

 WILDFOWL SHOOTING. 



SHOOTING FLAPPERS INLAND WINTER SHOOTING MARINE 

 WILDFOWL SHOOTING. 



VARIETIES OF WILDFOWL. 



THE varieties of wild fowlwhich are occasionally shot on 

 the rivers, ponds, lakes, and coasts of this country, are so 

 great as to defy anything more than a bare enumeration in 

 a book like the present. Some few, however, of the more 

 common kinds may be cursorily alluded to, and the re- 

 mainder summed up in a bare catalogue of names. 



The following terms are in use among wildfowl shooters : 

 A flock of widgeon is termed " a company ;" of swans, cranes, 

 and curlews, " a herd ;" of teal, " a spring ;" of geese, " a 

 gaggle ;" of ducks, " a badelynge ;" of mallards, " a sord ;" 

 of coots, " a covert ;" of sheldrakes, " a dopping." 



The WILD MALLARD and DUCK (Anas boschas) is supposed 

 to be the original of our tame ducks, which have changed 

 their colours in many cases and have also increased in size. 

 The Rouen variety is, however, very much like the wild duck 

 in colour, and there can be little doubt that it is really a 

 domesticated Anas boschas. There is, however, one point in 

 which they differ, and that a most important one, which 

 would almost lead to the belief that they are distinct in their 

 origin. I allude to the fact that the wild duck pairs, while 

 the tame duck is polygamous. It is scarcely necessary to 

 describe minutely the appearance of this bird, as it differs 

 little from the tame duck known as " the Rouen," except in 

 size. The drakes are twenty-four inches long, while the 

 ducks measure only twenty-two. They feed on grain and 

 grass seeds, worms, young frogs, insects, and fish. The nest 

 is made of grass, lined with down, from the breast of the 

 parent bird, and is placed on the ground, either on the banks 



