670 Birds. 



a pollard ash, or willow, or other forest tree, where shelter and security is afforded for 

 nestling work. Occurrences of the kind are by no means uncommon ; yet by some 

 ornithologists the nestling of the wild duck in such spots is denominated an occasional 

 departure from the general and more obviously marked habits of the species. Mon- 

 tagu, Selby, Waterton, and other ornithologists for aught I know, who have written 

 on incubation, have been very careful to inform their readers of the wild duck's va- 

 grancy while the important work of reproduction is being carried on. For some time 

 past I have paid a little attention to the manners and private life of several species of 

 bird belonging to the Fauna of this inland district ; and am desirous, through the me- 

 dium of ' The Zoologist,' to be put in possession of some features in the wild duck's 

 history, which appear to have escaped the notice and observation of those estimable 

 men who have " Essayed " and written so well on the subject. There are, it must be 

 granted I know, knotty points, and gnarled stops, and notches, with many gaps and 

 breaks, even now, in the history of many species of British birds. Notwithstanding 

 the manifest light which modern science has flung around us, much remains in store 

 for the enquirers of the present day and all future time to investigate. Perhaps the 

 best monograph on " the habits of the mallard," is that of the kind-hearted squire of 

 Walton Hall ; but it is remarkable and " passing strange," to me at least, that Mr. 

 Waterton, in his essay on that species of bird, should have left it incomplete. Why 

 did he fail to discover to us the method — the modus operandi — adopted by the parent 

 duck during the season of incubation ; and inform those of his readers especially the 

 more inquisitive kind, how and by what artful stratagem the young ducks, when ready 

 to leave the nest, were conveyed or transported from their abode in the tree, or the ivy 

 in the old ruin, to the element for whose surface Infinite Wisdom designed and fitted 

 them ? Pleasantly therefore as the " Prince of out-door naturalists" has written, and 

 he has written well of and about the haunts and habits of the mallard, drawing his 

 admirers and readers in turn aside, to peruse for themselves a leaf plucked by " the 

 Wanderer's " own hand from Nature's fulness, which the biographers of the birds of 

 Britain had hitherto failed to supply with fidelity and truth. Yet with all this, the 

 sun-browned traveller stops short, as though his pen failed in description, and faltered 

 to delineate the whole ; he bids his courteous readers look to the end — to Nature, for 

 solution. No one, I am convinced, can admire the writings and the many excellen- 

 cies of the kind Wanderer more than I do. Indeed I know no encomium more felici- 

 tous and just than that which the Welsh bard Mr. Dovaston some years since paid the 

 Prince, when he designated him " the intrepid traveller, the accurate and almost un- 

 erring observer, the benevolent protector, the classic scholar and animated writer.'' 

 May I be allowed to invite him to give the finishing stroke and last touch to his 

 " Habits of the Mallard "? Mr. Selby, the Northumbrian ornithologist, in his ' Illus- 

 trations,' is a little more to the point, but evades description when he should be didac- 

 tic and explicit. After describing the nest of the wild duck, our northern friend says 

 several instances have been recorded where the species have deposited their eggs in the 

 fork of a large tree, or in some deserted nest. Such an instance occurred within my 

 knowledge, and near my own residence, where a wild duck laid her eggs in the old 

 nest of a crow, at least thirty feet from the ground. At this elevation she hatched- her 

 young, and, as none of them were found dead beneath the tree, it is presumed (mark 

 the expression, 'tis a supposed case ! ) she carried them safely to the ground in her 

 bill, a mode of conveyance known to be frequently adopted by the eider duck. For 

 my own part I am not acquainted with the private habits and history of the eider duck, 



