242 THE WILD DUCK 



the raven formerly reared its young, and where, to 

 this day, the long-eared owl, the crow, the magpie, 

 the kestrel, and the night jar, still build their nests 

 or lay their eggs, in comparative security. Two 

 small ponds, in my own garden at Harrow, enabled 

 me, for many years, to observe, without disguise and 

 with greater ease, the same process, and to listen to 

 the same old love story, as told by the quacking or 

 the quorking of my semi-domesticated wild ducks. 

 The happy pair swim round each other in coy and 

 graceful circles, now nearer and now further away ; 

 and, at given points, they stop short, and nod, and 

 bow, and curvet, and simper, each to each, with a 

 low crooning noise. The drake is, of course, in the 

 full glory of his spring apparel ; and I am bound 

 to say that he seems often to be passive rather 

 than active. He is the coquette, whose business 

 it is to be courted rather than to court. " He 

 would be wooed, and, not unsought, be won." The 

 duck, on her part, tries to make herself as attractive 

 as possible a very difficult task with her very 

 sober or sombre plumage by lowering herself 

 in the water, till only the top of her back and neck 

 can be seen, and by quorking in as many notes 

 as the narrow compass of her voice will allow 

 her. 



