164 BRITISH BIRDS’ EGGS. 
WILD DUCK (on MALLARD). 
Anas BoscHas, Linn. 
Pl. XXIV., fig. 3. 
Geogr. distr.—Europe generally, from Northern Asia to China and 
Japan; Northern Africa; N. America as far southwards as Mexico: 
in Great Britain more commonly in the north than the south during 
the summer; resident in Ireland. 
Food.—Plants, seeds, grain, insects, worms, Mollusca, small fish 
and ova, 
Nest.—A roughly-made and bulky structure formed of grasses, 
sedges, flags, and other plants. 
Position of nest.—Rarely far from water; either amongst reeds on 
the edge of a marsh or in heathy meadows, frequently under a bush ; 
in woods; also on stumps of pollard willows, or in deserted nests of 
various species of Corvide. 
Number of eggs.—T-12. 
Time of nidification.—IV-V. 
Captain Feilden says that this species is common as a 
breeding species throughout the Faroe Islands, every con- 
siderable piece of fresh water being tenanted by a pair or 
more.—(‘ Zoologist,’ 1872.) 
My. W. J. Sterland, in his ‘ Birds of Sherwood Forest,’ 
speaks of this bird as nesting at some height from the 
eround, and states that the young are carried to the ground 
by the female. He says:—‘‘The late Mr. Mansell, of 
Thoresby, related to me the following instance of the 
parent bird actually conveying her young to water, which 
he himself witnessed. He was passing one morning at 
daybreak, in the early part of May, under a large ash tree, 
which was thickly clothed with ivy, when a cheeping and 
rustling overhead induced him to withdraw a few steps and 
stand still. He had hardly done so when a Wild Duck 
flew out of the ivy, some height up the tree, holding a 
young one in her bill. This she put down on the bank of 
the stream, which was about a hundred yards from the 
tree, and then, returning to the nest, conveyed the re- 
mainder, one by one, in the same manner, until thirteen 
were safely placed on the bank. Here she brooded them 
for a few minutes, and then, with much apparent fond- 
ness, led them down the bank into the water, where they 
were speedily darting about with the utmost liveliness,” 
—(Pp. 219, 220.) 
