THE ZOOLOGIST. 



plumage generally resembled that of the duck. Another killed 

 on October 22nd was already in his handsome winter plumage, 

 every feather clean and perfect. 



This change of plumage is perhaps one of the most extra- 

 ordinary we have in Nature, and it is well set out in ' The 

 Zoologist' for June last (pp. 228 — 233). It is said— and I think 

 with perfect right— that Mallards are night-feeding birds, 

 spending the daytime in secluded rest. Though I have frequently 

 met with tliem during the daytime, sitting both on the salt-slakes 

 and on the banks of streamlets winding through the sandwashes, 

 I never saw them feeding at this time. They are generally sitting 

 all huddled up, their heads stowed away under their scapulars, 

 simply passing the time away until " the sun takes the hill," when 

 they betake themselves to the outlet of some freshwater stream 

 running down from the country into the salt-slakes. Where such 

 a place as this exists Mallards are nearly sure to frequent it at 

 night, and none know this better than the flight-shooters. Many 

 a countryman after his day's work is done shoulders his muzzle- 

 loader, and if the moon is favourable he has a fair chance of 

 getting a shot, aye, and sometimes half a dozen or more shots at 

 Mallards as they come to feed at their favourite stream. Though 

 Mallards have a distinct predilection for freshwater food, yet 

 they do not hesitate to frequent also the saltwater pools and 

 runners left by the ebb. 



Pochards are seldom met with on the coast of Northumber- 

 land, and are never numerous. On the 22nd October last a 

 duck flew past me when in the punt which I think can have been 

 no other than a Pochard, though this is the only time I have ever 

 come across it, and on the 7th October last one was killed by a 

 local gunner near Ryhope, Co. Durham. 



During the month of September, Teal are to be found 

 regularly in the salt-slakes, and it is rather singular what becomes 

 of these birds in the later autumn months. Towards the end of 

 the month of August, and right through September, Teal are 

 perhaps the most numerous of the Duck tribe on the coast. 

 These are probably the birds that have been bred on our upland 

 moors, but after September they generally disappear. Though 

 the difl"erence between home and foreigu-bred Mallards is suffi- 

 ciently palpable, I have never been able to discriminate between 

 home and foreign-bred Teal, and it seems as if the coast of 



