284 WILD TRAITS IN TAME ANIMALS. 



and draes him under. Still, on the whole, there 

 can be no doubt that, like the average sailor, 

 he is much safer afloat than ashore. Ducklings 

 usually get a living very much more easily on the 

 water than on the land. Their beaks are not so 

 adapted for picking up unconsidered trifles as are 

 those of chicks, nor are their feet fitted for ex- 

 ploring the ground for worms, seeds, and insects. 

 Much has been said of the remarkable skill 

 evinced by the newly hatched chick in snapping 

 up crumbs without any preliminary training. 

 But the nascent duckling- evinces an even more 

 wonderful instinctive skill in using its beak ; for 

 as soon as ever it commences to swim it is able 

 to catch the midges and gnats which dart to and 

 fro near the surface of the water. For the first 

 month or so of their lives wild ducklings are 

 almost as purely insectivorous as the swallow 

 or flycatcher. Towards the close of the day 

 their little crops are distended with a mass of 

 insects which must be much of the same con- 

 sistence as the "midge dough" which Living- 

 stone describes as being baked and eaten by 

 natives living on the insect -infested shores of 

 Tanganyika. 



A young wild duck is distinctly a more alert 



