THE WILD DUCK. 75 



William Jardine haSj however, generally seen one or two speci- 

 mens (though where obtained is not stated) during the winter and 

 spring in Edinburgh market, and according to the ' Historia Na- 

 turalis Orcadeusis' (p. 75), published in 1848, the species is not 

 unfrequent in Orkney. 



THE WILD DUCK. 



Mallard. 



Anas hoschas, Linn. 



Is cominoii around the coast ; on fresli-water lakes, &c. ; 

 and is indigenous. 



Although great numbers of these birds migrate from more 

 northern countries to our coasts and inland waters every winter, 

 the species breeds tlu-oughout the island wherever it can find 

 suitable localities. At a sheet of water, about two miles from 

 Belfast, in Belvoir Park, two or three pair annually build, and a 

 similar number at Bally drain Lake, four miles distant ; — in 1832, 

 the young were noted as swimming about here at the beginning 

 of May. Numbers breed about two lakes at Hillsborough 

 Park, at the distance of ten miles. A person visiting them on the 

 lOtli of June, 1845, saw about a dozen broods of young, the fe- 

 male parents of which exhibited various stratagems to induce 

 him and the gamekeeper to follow her instead of the duck- 

 lings ; if on the ground, dragging herself along it apparently by 

 the aid of her wings alone ; if at the edge of the water, rushing 

 along the surface flapping her wings ; the bill in either case being 

 wide agape, and a loud cry kept up. The young, in the mean- 

 time, became secreted among the herbage or escaped into the water; 

 once into which, they instantly dived, and continued doing so until 

 they got so far out as to be inapprehensive of danger, when they 

 formed a little flock and swam quite composedly after their parent. 

 The keeper here believes that pike, of which there are many in 

 one lake, consume a number of the young birds, as he has often 



