218 THE BIRDS OF DEVOX. 



THE WILD DUCKS. 



Of the nnmevous Ducks which come upon our Biitish 

 list some are maritime, like the Sheldrake, the Scoters, 

 and the Scaup, and, except at the nesting-season, very 

 rarely leave the salt water. There are others which pass 

 the greater part of the year on lakes and streams inland, 

 wiiich only make their appearance on the estuaries on the 

 coast in the autumn and winter ; of these the best-known 

 exam{)les are the Common Wigeon and the Teal. Even 

 the ordinary Wild Duck, generally confining itself to 

 freshwater ponds and rivers and marshes, will in the 

 winter-time, lor the sake of security, fly out to sea to 

 settle for the day and sleep upon its surface, seeking the 

 shore and its favourite feeding-grounds at dusk. The 

 Garganey, or Summer Teal, a rather scarce spring vidtor 

 to this country, is the only one of whose appearance at 

 any time on salt water we have no instance. Most of the 

 British Wild Ducks have been obtained in Devonshire : 

 some of them are very rare and only accidental stragglers 

 from the north, such as the Eider and Lonii-tailed Duck ; 

 some roach us from the south of Europe, like the Red- 

 crested Pochard and White-eyed Duck; while others are 

 drifted to us by accident across two continents, perhaps 

 coming all the way from North America, via Northern Asia 

 and Europe, as the Surf-Scoter, the American Green- 

 winged Teal, and the Buffel-headed Duck. Of our own 

 indigenous birds, the best known representatives of the 

 AVild-Duck family, and the only ones we are accustomed 

 to see hanging up in game-dealers' shops, the Common 

 Wild Duck, the Common A\'igeon, and the Teal, it may 

 safely be asserted that not a tithe of the numbers, which, 

 fifty years ago, were sometimes seen blackening the sands 

 and oozes on our coasts, visit us at the present day, and 



