490 



DUCK. 



Female. The female is very plain: the ground colour of the plumage 



pale reddifn brown, fpotted with black:, the fpeculum on the 

 wings the fame : but none of the tail feathers curved, as in 

 the male. 

 Place and Wild Ducks frequent the marfhy places in many parts of this 



Manners. kingdom, but no where more plenty than in Lincclnjhire, where 

 prodigious numbers are annually taken in our decoys*; each 

 decoy paying from five pounds to twenty annual rent |. They 

 pair in the fpring, and lay from ten to fixteen eggs ; but, in re- 

 fpe£t to England, only a fmall portion may be fuppofed to breed 

 here, as the prodigious quantities (een in winter, compared with 

 thole which are met with in fummer, make us fuppofe that the 

 major part feek a more northern fituation at that feafon. With 

 us they pair in fpring, and breed in all the low marfhy grounds ; 

 laying from ten to fixteen eggs ; and the young take the water as 

 ibon as hatched. Is a very artful bird,, and does not always 

 make the neft clofe to the water ; not unfrequently at a good 

 diftance from it ; in which cafe the Duck will take the young in 

 ks beak or between the legs. Are known fometimes to lay the 



* In only ten decoys, in the neighbourhood of Wainfleet, thirtj-one thou/and. 

 two hundred have been taken in one feafon. — Br. Zool. 



f In Somerfetjhire one has been known to pay as far as thirty pounds. Id. — 

 The nature of thefe decoys, and management of them, may be feen at large in 

 Will. Orn. p. 372^ 573. See Br. Zool. art. Mallard. — In the Biblioth. Topog. 

 Galean. N° ii. part 1. p. 359, I find an extras from the Antiq. Society of Spalding, 

 concerning the taking of Ducks, which is as follows : " At the ducking on Thurs- 

 day laft, were taken up one hundred feventy-four dozen of Mallards or Drakes 

 moulting; and on Monday forty-fix dozen and a half : in all two thoufand fijt 

 hundred and forty-fix birds." 



eggs^ 



