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bank where tliey sat preening their feathers, before plunging into the water. Mr. Dugald 

 Macdonald has informed me that he has seen hundreds of Mallards on a mill-dam near Mony- 

 musk, in Aberdeenshire, which were so tame as to come at the call of a miller who fed them. 

 This man no sooner made his appearance, and uttered the peculiar whistle which they were 

 accustomed to hear, than the Ducks came flying in from all parts of the pond and surrounding 

 marshes, and alighted within a few yards of where he stood throwing out handfuls of corn. No 

 stranger, however, could ever prevail on them to approach." 



In Greenland it occurs, and is included by Professor Bernhardt in his list of birds observed 

 in that country ; and in Iceland it is recorded by Professor Newton in Mr. Baring Gould's work 

 as " very common, arriving, according to Faber, the third week in April, and departing in the 

 beginning of October. Throughout Scandinavia it is tolerably numerous everywhere up into 

 Lapland; and Mr. Collett writes that "it breeds commonly throughout Norway up to Tromso, 

 but is only found in small numbers in Ostfinmark. South of the Trondhjemsfiord it is generally 

 met with breeding on the fresh water at all altitudes, but also on the coast down to the Hval 

 islands. It is generally to be met with wintering on the south coasts, from the Trondhjemsfiord 

 down to Bohuslehn." Dresser saw it everywhere along the Swedish coast, and especially on the 

 small inland lakes, up into Lapland, and equally common in Finland, it being one of the com- 

 monest species near Uleaborg, and the first Duck to commence breeding there. In every part of 

 Finland which he visited he found the Mallard numerous ; and Messrs. Alston and Harvie Brown 

 record it as equally common near Archangel. Throughout Northern and Central Russia it occurs 

 in almost all suitable localities ; and Mr. Sabanaeff writes that it is very common in the Ural, 

 especially on the lakes in the black-earth districts. In Poland, the Baltic Provinces, and through- 

 out Northern Germany, it is found during the breeding-season ; and numbers remain there 

 throughout the winter. In Denmark it is, Mr. Benzon informs us, common everywhere on the 

 freshwater lakes and streams ; and in Holland, Belgium, and the north of France, it is numerous 

 during the winter season, some few remaining to breed in those countries. Professor Barboza du 

 Bocage includes it in his list of the birds of Portugal ; and Mr. Howard Saunders and Major Irby 

 both speak of it as very numerous and universally distributed throughout Spain, the former 

 stating that it breeds abundantly in the " Marisma " and " Cotos." 



Bailly finds it numerous during the seasons of migration in Savoy, a few remaining to breed ; 

 and other authors agree that it is common throughout Italy and in Sicily, in the latter country, 

 according to Mr. Howard Saunders, the commonest species of Duck found breeding there. 

 Mr. C. A. Wright writes that it is " not uncommon on the shores of Malta in November and 

 December, a few appearing again in March." Captain Sperling found it in Albania in the winter, 

 and also obtained the eggs there early in June ; and Lord Lilford, writing on the birds of the 

 Ionian Islands, says that " this species actually swarms in winter in some of the marshes of 

 Epirus and Albania. The best localities with which I am acquainted for Wild-Duck shooting 

 are, Butrinto, Phanari, the Suro river, in the Gulf of Arta, Sivitazza, and, last, but by no means 

 least, the great marshes between Santa Quaranta and Delvino. A good many Wild Ducks breed 

 in Epirus and Albania. In the Acherusian marsh at Phanari, without exaggeration, they literally 

 darken the air." Lindermayer and other authors on the ornithology of Greece, all record it 

 as common; and Mr. W. H. Hudlestone, who found it breeding there, writes "we found 



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