510 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



The ducklings, before they are twenty-four hours old, take to 

 the water and go off with the mother. For the first week or so 

 they keep hidden away amongst the rushes, &c, but afterwards 

 appear on the open water, swimming about with the mother. 

 They never return to the nest after once quitting it — not even to 

 roost. 



The drakes, as soon as their mates begin to sit, spend a good 

 deal of their time at their " club " — a pool about half a mile 

 away. They condescend to return to their families later on, 

 when the latter are growing up, but they take no part in the 

 sitting, nor in feeding the spouse on the nest, nor do they ever 

 help to feed or look after the young. In short, they are not 

 at all patterns of marital behaviour. 



Although the pool at Sandford is private, and the ducks have 

 never been molested, they are very shy, and would never allow me 

 to get near enough with the camera to take a snap-shot of them 

 on the water. They would rise while still sixty or eighty yards 

 away, and, after flying round in wide circles for some minutes, 

 alight on a distant part of the pool. 



Since penning the foregoing notes I have heard from Col. 

 Kenyon Slaney that the Tufted Duck still breeds at Hatton 

 Grange, and has done so almost every year as far back as he can 

 remember. The water there is but small, and only one, or per- 

 haps two, pairs nest on it. Practically the Hatton birds belong 

 to the Weston colony, although the founders appear to have 

 settled first at Hatton, and thence to have colonized Weston. 



