claP. xv1.j MALLARDS. 127 
by seeing the bird in so unusual a place, I examined the tree, and 
found that she had a nest built of sticks and grass, containing 
six eggs, placed at the junction of the branches and the main 
stem. Ido not know how she would have managed to get her 
young ones safely out of it when hatched, for on carefully mea- 
suring the height, I found that the nest was exactly fifteen feet 
from the ground. 
As soon as hatched, the young ones take to the water, and it 
is very amusing to see the activity and quickness which the little 
fellows display in catching insects and flies as they skim along 
the surface of the water, led on by the parent bird, who takes 
the greatest care of them, bustling about with all the hurry and 
importance of a barn-yard hen. Presently she gives a low 
warning quack, as a hawk or carrion crow passes in a suspicious 
manner over them. One cry is enough, away all the little ones 
dart into the rushes, screaming and fluttering, while the old bird, 
with head flat on the water and upturned eye, slowly follows them, 
but not until she sees them all out of danger. After a short time, 
if the enemy has disappeared, the old bird peers cautiously from 
her covert, and if she makes up her mind that all is safe, she calls 
forth her offspring again, to feed and sport in the open water. 
The young birds do not fly till they are quite full grown. 
I have observed that, as soon as ever the inner side of the wing 
is fully clothed, they take to flying; their bones, which before 
this time were more like gristle than anything else, quickly 
hardening, and giving the bird full power and use of its pinions. 
The old bird then leads them forth at night to the most distant 
feeding-places, either to the grass meadows where they search 
for snails or worms, or to the splashy swamps, where they dabble 
about all night, collecting the different insects and young frogs that 
abound in these places. As the corn ripens, they fly to the oat- 
fields in the dusk of the evening, preferring this grain and peas 
to any other. They are now in good order and easily shot, as 
they come regularly to the same fields every night. As soon as 
they have satisfied their hunger, they go to some favourite pool, 
where they drink and wash themselves. After this, they rapair, 
before dawn, to their resting-place for the day, generally some 
large piece of water, where they can float quietly out of reach 
of all danger. In October, the drakes have acquired their 
