DUCK. 



287 



neck glossy, changeable green ; at the lower part of the neck a 

 collar of white, passing almost round it; scapulars white, barred, 

 or rather undulated, with minute lines of brown ; back brown ; 

 rump black, glossed with green; on the wing coverts a transverse 

 white streak, edged with a second of black ; and below this the 

 speculum, or large violet-green, lucid spot; the lower part of the 

 neck and breast chestnut ; belly pale grey, crossed with numerous, 

 transverse dusky lines; the tail consists of twenty feathers, and is 

 pointed in shape ; the two middle greenish black, and curve upwards 

 in a remarkable manner; and others as usual, of a grey brown, 

 margined with white; legs orange. 



The female is very plain. The bill smaller and shorter than in 

 the male; the ground colour of the plumage pale reddish brown, 

 spotted with black ; the violet-green speculum on the wings as in 

 the male, but none of the tail feathers are curved. 



Wild Ducks frequent the marshy places in many parts of this 

 kingdom, but no where more numerous than in Lincolnshire, where 

 prodigious quantities are annually taken in our decoys.* They pair 

 in spring, and lay from ten to sixteen bluish white eggs ; the nest is 

 formed by collecting a little grass, or other vegetable near at hand, 

 and the lining of some down plucked from the breast, with which 

 also when the female leaves the nest, she generally covers the eggs. 

 In respect to England, although many breed here, it is probably 

 but a small proportion of the prodigious numbers seen in the winter, 

 which must have emigrated from other parts. It is a very artful 

 bird, not always making the nest close to the water, but frequently 

 at some distance from it; in which case the Duck will take the young 

 in its beak, or between the legs, to the water, into which they will 

 enter as soon as hatched ; has been known to lay the eggs in a high 

 tree, in a deserted Magpie's or Crow's nest ; and one has been found 

 sitting on nine eggs, on an oak, twenty-five feet from the ground, 



* For the nature of these decoys see below, but for a more particular account consult 

 Willughby's Ornith. p. 372, 373. ; also Br. Zool. Art. Mallard. 



