Class IL MALLARD. 259 



• a dusky hue ; the scapulars white, elegantly bar- 

 red with brown ; the spot on the wing is of a rich 

 purple; the tail consists of twenty-four feathers. 

 What distinguishes the male of this species 

 from all others are the four middle feathers, 

 which are black and strongly curled upwards ; 

 but the females w-ant this mark ; their plum- 

 age is of a pale reddish brown, spotted with 

 black. The legs are of a saffron color. 



The common tame species of ducks take their Tame 

 origin from these, and may be traced to them 

 by unerring characters. The drakes, howsoever 

 they vary in colors, always retain the curled 

 feathers of the tail; and both sexes the form 

 of the bill of the wild kind. Nature sports in 

 the colors of all domestic animals; and for a 

 wise and useful end, that mankind may the 

 more readily distinguish and clame their re- 

 spective property. Wild ducks pair in the 

 spring, and breed in ail marshy grounds, and 

 lay from ten to sixteen eggs. They abound in 

 Lincolnshire, the great magazine of wild fowl in 

 this kingdom ; where prodigious numbers are 

 taken annually in the decoys. 



A decoy is generally made where there is a Decoys. 

 large pond surrounded with wood, and beyond 

 that a marshy and uncultivated country : if the 

 piece of water is not thus surrounded, it will be 



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