MALLARD. 207 



"I shot at a Mallard a considerable distance from me, and evidently struck him, as 

 after flying some distance to the windward, he pitched in a grass field; but on my 

 approach, he rose again and went at a great height down wind towards the sea. I 

 happened to keep my glass on him, and when he was about a quarter of a mile off, I 

 saw him turn over in the air and fall. On coming up to the place I found the bird 

 quite alive, but with his wing broken close to the body. The shot must have struck 

 the bone without breaking it. The singular part of the affair was, that the bird could 

 battle against strong wind, for at least a quarter of a mile, without the injured bone 

 giving way." 



It is the opinion of Mr. Waterton, who has written well, and from personal observation, 

 upon the Mallard, that these birds when paired, remain so during the whole year, and 

 that the young birds which are hatched in this country, pair long before they migrate 

 to the north in the following spring. This opinion is also confirmed by Mr. W. 

 Thompson, in Ireland; and by Wilson and Audubon, in America. 



The nest is composed of dry grass, small sticks, or such like, and lined with down; 

 it is variously placed; sometimes amongst sedge near the shore of some secluded inland 

 water ; at others amongst furze brakes, corn-fields, and thick hedge-rows. Less frequently 

 it is found in trees at a considerable elevation from the ground. Thus Mr. Selby records, 

 that a "Wild Duck laid her eggs in the old nest of a crow, at least, thirty feet from 

 the ground." Tarrell mentions one at twenty-five feet from the ground, in an oak tree. 

 Mr. Thompson mentions a magpie's nest, in a silver fir, in Hillsborough Park, about 

 eighty feet from the ground, and a furlong at least from any water, which was taken 

 possession of by a Wild Duck; the young birds were safely carried off by the parent 

 bird. This occurred in 1848. Of the eccentric nesting of the Mallard, Mr. St. John 

 remarks : — 



"The common Wild Duck often builds her nest in a situation from which one would 

 suppose it would be very difficult for the young, when first hatched, to make their way 

 to the water. My retriever put up a Wild Duck, on the 16th., (April,) in some very 

 high and close heather, at some distance from any water. I found that she had her 

 nest in the very centre of the heather, and in the densest part of it. The nest was 

 very beautifully formed, and looked like a mass of the finest down, with just sufficient 

 coating of small sticks, etc. outside, to keep the down together." 



The eggs are from twelve to sixteen in number, and are of a dull greenish white 

 colour, measuring two inches and a half in length, by one inch and seven lines in 

 breadth. When the duck leaves the nest, she covers the eggs with moss, or some 

 similar substance, to conceal them from view: as stated by Mr. Thompson. 



Incubation is performed by the duck alone, upon whom also devolves the entire care 

 of bringing up the young brood. In doing this she will use various stratagems to lure 



