370 MALLARD. 



not often close to it. The nest is a deep one, formed 

 of grasses and lined with down. The eggs, eight to 

 twelve, are buffish green in colour. They may be 

 found as early as the end of March. The nest is 

 generally placed on the ground amongst reeds or in 

 the long grass, but it is often found in most unlikely 

 places, such as in the deserted nest of a Carrion Crow, 

 or in the tops of trees many feet from the ground, in 

 ivy on a ruined wall, and on the top of a straw-stack. 

 A unique instance was recorded by some of our Queen- 

 wood collectors in 1884. In this case the eggs were laid 

 in a Rook's nest in an inhabited rookery, on the banks 

 of the Test, over thirty feet from the ground. There 

 were six eggs, and the nest from which they were 

 taken was in a horse-chestnut tree. One paper, the 

 Nottingham Journal, attached political significance to 

 the portent : " A Wild Duck has laid eggs in a Rook's 

 nest. Can this have any bearing on Lord Randolph 

 Churchill's reconciliation with the leaders of his party ? " 

 while the Daily News remarked that "the Romans 

 would have drawn conclusions as to the fate of Kar- 

 toum from the prodigy ". 



The head and neck of this bird are black, tinged 

 with green and purple ; the back is brown, shading to 

 greyish brown on the wings ; across these there is a 

 white bar. There is a narrow white ring round the 

 neck, the breast is deep chestnut, belly greyish white 

 finely marked with zigzag lines of dark grey, tail 

 blackish brown. 



