3i8 THE WILD DUCK 



their sober-coloured mates, not because these are not 

 able to find for themselves but because the males con- 

 sider it their place to do so. Stretching out their necks 

 and ruffling all their feathers they softly call when they 

 have a lucky find; up rushes the duck, nips fast hold of 

 the gaper and swings it from side to side as a terrier 

 shakes a rat : after wrenching it from the shell she 

 washes it in the water of the runnel and swallows it. 



It is a matter of serious regret to many a sportsman 

 and one entailing loss to the longshore shooter that the 

 numbers of our common Wild Ducks or Mallards are 

 each year becoming less. But for those bred in the 

 Arctic regions- those the North Kent marshman calls 

 " foreign flighters," we should be in a bad way as to 

 the Wild Duck. 



The latter arrive in great numbers from the Continent 

 during the colder months. Drainage of the fens, and 

 improvements in agriculture have, of course, lessened 

 the numbers of those that breed with us; but flapper- 

 shooting on the flats and the want of protection are 

 decimating them largely on the Essex and North Kent 

 marsh-lands. All good authorities on the subject agree 

 that there ought to be a close time for our Wild Duck 

 up to the ist of September, whereas in Essex protection 

 extends only to August i6th, and in Kent only till the 

 i3th of that month. In shooting the Flappers, or young 

 birds, many an old Drake gets killed; having lost his 

 quills he is incapable of flight. He does not put on his 

 full new dress until the middle of October. Flappers 

 are easily killed as they reach full growth before their 

 wings are fledged ; so that it is not really fair sport, 

 which should give a free field. As old Peter Hawker, 

 the father of Wild Duck Shooting said, flapper-shooting 



