84 ANATID.E, 



The food coutaiiied in wild ducks, killed in the north of Ireland, 

 and examined by me, was almost invariably, in mild weather, of 

 a vegetable nature. In addition to this, the birds procured 

 during frost in Belfast Bay included, or sometimes were exclu- 

 sively filled with, minute shells, of several species, but especially 

 tlie Rissoa ulvce. Of two shot here (February 1848), just after 

 arrival from fresh water one had in its bill a horse-leech {Hirudo 

 sanguisugd) — the other ejected several of them. The stomach 

 of an omnivorous mallard, killed at Larne Lough in October 1848, 

 and brought to me by Mr. Darragh, curator and taxidermist to 

 the Belfast Museum, contained the following : — An eel, four 

 inches in length; a crab [Carcinas mcenas), an inch broad across 

 the carapace, or shell, and perfect ; of marine univalve and bi- 

 valve shell-fi.sh, 1 Lacuna quadrifasciata, 2 Rissoa interrupta, 4 

 Rissoa alhella ?, 5 Modiola discrejMrtS (fry), about 20 of the 

 young of Littorina vulgaris and L, retusa, 40 Montacuta [Mi/a) 

 purpurea, 391 Bulla ohtusa, and 475 Rissoa alha : it contained 

 also above 4,500 of the handsomely sculptured seeds of the grass- 

 wrack, Zostera marina ; nor was this all, as fully one-tenth of the 

 matter — that which adhered to the coats of the stomach — was not 

 taken into account. 



Montagu, in the Supplement to his ' Ornithological Dictionary/ 

 remarks, under "Cuckow," that : — "There are some insects and 

 worms that appear to be rejected by most birds. The thrush 

 most greedily devours the Umax of the Helix oiemoralis, but will 

 not eat a naked Umax ; this is left for the duck, which is almost 

 the only bird that will swallow this slimy morsel/^ But, the 

 Hon. and Rev. Wilham Herbert, in one of his many interest- 

 ing notes to White's 'Selborne,''^ observes : — "I have in vain 

 flattered myself that ducks would deliver the garden from this 

 nuisance [slugs], and have never found that they would touch 

 them." In the north of Ireland tame ducks eat slugs most 

 greedily, and are commonly turned into gardens for the purpose 

 of destroying them. I have, myself, very frequently observed 



* Bennett's edition, p. 44.3. 



