780 THE MALLARD. 



The Pintail Duck {Dafila acuta), so called on account of its long and sharply pointed 

 tail, is one of our winter visitors, arriving in October, and departing in the spring. Tlie 

 male is a very handsome bird, its head and neck being rich dark brown, its back beautifully 

 pencilled with black on a grey ground, and the throat, breast, and abdomen snowy white, 

 and a line of the same hue running up the sides of the neck as far as the head. The 

 length of a male bird is about twenty-six inches, the female is shorter, because her tail- 

 feathers are not so w^ell developed. 



The common Mallaed or Wild Duck now comes before our notice. 



This is by no means one of the least handsome of its tribe, the rich glossy green of 

 the head and neck, the snowy- white collar, and the velvet black of the odd little curly 

 feathers of the tail, giving it a bold and striking appearance, which, but for its familiarity, 

 would receive greater admiration than it at piesent obtains. It is the stock from which 

 descended our well-known domestic Duck, to which we are so much indebted for its flesh 

 and its eggs. 



In its wild state the Mallard arrives in this country about October, assembling in 

 large flocks, and is immediately persecuted in every way that the ingenuity of man can 

 devise. Sportsmen go out to shoot it, armed with huge gims that no man can hold to his 

 shoulder, and have to be mounted on gimbals in a boat, thus bringing down whole clouds 

 of birds at a discharge. 



Nets and snares of various kinds are in great request, the principal of which is the 

 Decoy, a very complicated piece of apparatus, requiring several acres of water, shaped in 

 a peculiar manner, surrounded by reeds and bushes, and furnished with an elaborate 

 system of tunnels made of net strained over wooden- arches, very large towards the mouth, 

 and tapering to a point at the extremity. Along these tunnels are set a number of reed 

 screens, so made that a person standing behind them is hidden from birds on the laka, 

 while he can be seen by those in the tunnel. Various methods are employed to induce 

 the Ducks to enter the mouth of the tunnels, scattered grain being a kind of bait, 

 and certain trained decoy Ducks acting as lures which beguile the wild birds to their 

 death. 



As soon as a sufficient number of Ducks have entered a tunnel, the fowler, standing 

 behind the first screen, waves his hat so as to frighten the birds, and makes them swim 

 away from him, i.e. along the tunnel. He then runs forwards, frightens them again, and 

 so drives them to the end, where they find their further progress impeded by the narrow 

 funnel-like termination, and their egress cut off by the structure of tlie net. The fowler 

 then takes off the pocket at the end of the tunnel, which is movable, kills the Ducks 

 quite at his leisure, replaces the pocket, and returns to his work. Generally, each decoy 

 has about six of these tunnels radiating from the centre, and the fowler is assisted by his 

 dog, which is trained to play about the tunnels in such a fashion that tlie Ducks become 

 inquisitive, and going to investigate the phenomenon, come upon the grain and the decoys, 

 and are lured to the deadly pocket. A small piece of w^ater about three or four acres in 

 extent is better for a decoy than a large expanse, as in the latter case the Mallards might 

 not see the dog or the decoy Ducks. Flat fenny soils afford the best localities for the 

 decoys. 



The nest of the Mallard is made of grass lined and mixed with down, and is almost 

 always placed on the ground near water, and sheltered by reeds, osiers, or other aquatic 

 plants. Sometimes, however, the nest is placed in a more inland spot, and it now and 

 then happens that a Duck of more than usual eccentricity builds her nest in a tree at 

 some elevation from the ground, so that when her young are hatched, she is driven to 

 exert all her ingenuity in conveying them safely from their lofty cradle to the ground or 

 the water. Such a nest has been observed in an oak-tree twenty-five feet from the ground, 

 and at Heath Wood, near Chesterfield, one of these birds usurped possession of a deserted 

 crow's nest in an oak-tree. Many similar instances are on record. 



The eggs of the Mallard are numerous, but variable according to the individual which 

 lays them, some being far more prolific than others. The eggs are rather large and of a 

 greenish white colour. 



