DUCKS 221 



tame duck ? Why have many of these no protective colouring, like their 

 wild ancestors ? (See cat.) 



4. The duck is a very prolific bird. (Compare with hare.) The 

 female deposits from ten to sixteen eggs in a carelessly constructed nest, 

 concealed in some safe hiding-place and softly lined inside with the 

 bird's own down. When she leaves her nest in search of food she 

 covers the eggs, which are pale-greenish, and thus not protectively 

 coloured, with leaves and blades of grass, of which the nest is con- 

 structed. The young are " precocious," and follow their mother into 

 the water immediately after leaving the egg. 



Allied Species. 



A large number of duck species are found in Europe, especially along 

 the seacoast, all of which in structure and mode of life almost com- 

 pletely resemble the wild duck. 



The Eider Duck (Somateria mollissima) is of frequent occurrence 

 on the coasts of the Northern seas both in the Old and New World. 

 The down-feathers with which the nests are lined are much esteemed on 

 account of their lightness and elasticity. 



The Grey Lag Goose (Anser cinereus), the ancestral form of our 

 domestic goose, inhabits Northern and Central Europe ; in Germany it 

 at present is only met with in the north and east. Formerly the wild 

 goose bred in Lincolnshire, but now its breeding-places in the British 

 Isles are limited to the North of Scotland and the Hebrides. It is 

 scarcely distinguishable from a grey domestic goose. Its food consists 

 chiefly of water-plants, which it cuts off with the sharp edges of its beak. 

 Its legs being taller and articulated nearer the middle of the body 

 render it better adapted for walking than the duck. In spring and 

 autumn large flocks of these birds, arranged in the form of a V ( see 

 crane), may frequently be seen overhead on their migration flight. 

 (What are the uses of the domestic goose ? Compare it with the duck.) 



The Mute Swan (Cygnus olor), distinguished by a knob on the bill, 

 is much kept as an ornamental bird on ponds. The home of this hand- 

 some, snow-white bird is in the Northern parts of the Old World. Wild 

 specimens occasionally visit Britain in winter. The bird leaves the water 

 with reluctance, and its walk on shore is even more ungainly than that 

 •of the duck, owing to its legs being articulated very far backwards. Its 

 long neck enables it to forage at the bottom of fairly deep water. 



The Flamingo (Phcenicopterus roseus) is a distant relative of the 

 duck. It is a peculiar bird which, on account of its unusually long 

 -wading feet, is sometimes classed with the waders ; while others, from 



15—2 



