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The Endurance of young Wild Ducks.



The whole brood apparently arrived safely, as a duck with

fourteen young ones was seen there the next day. How many she

succeeded in rearing I do not know, but the ravages of gulls, eels,

and rats usually reduce the number of young ducks considerably.

I have seen an old duck bravely defending her brood from a Lesser

Black-backed Gull, standing' up and fighting for her family like a

true Briton.


Some years the Gulls seem much more voracious than others,

and Lesser Black-backs, which certainly are the commonest here,

seem the most voracious of their tribe, even attacking and killing

Puffins on the outer islands where they all nest together.


I have seen an unfortunate young wild duck bobbing up and

down on the water, an eel having caught it by the leg, poor little

dear ! until it finally disappeared altogether. There are some very

large eels in the pool too, one having been caught weighing 7j lbs.,

a broad nosed eel. They appear to flourish in the rather shallow

muddy water, and also have not far to go to get out into the ocean

to their 100 fathom spawning ground.


Every year the gulls have to pay toll for their ravages, and

one or two have to be shot and hung up as a warning to their

brothers not to intrude where the young wild ducks are being

reared.


There are usually two pairs of Peregrins that breed on the

outer rocks, and these also are a great source of danger to all young

birds, but their usual fancy is the young white Wyandottes, rather

than wild ducklings. An old Peregrin took between 40 to 50 one

year, till at last the poultry-man could stand it no longer and the

poor Peregrin had to pay for his ravages. The last few years we

have had no trouble with these, and they have contented themselves

with small birds ; sad to say usually Blackbirds, Thrushes, Turn¬

stones and Redshanks; gradually attacking larger birds as their

young get older. Puffins and Razorbills being about the last to be

attacked by them when the family are nearly full-grown.


I have found nests of the common wild duck on other of the

outer islands, from whence they have even farther to travel on the

sea, before they are able to reach the fresh water pools with their

families.



