BIRDS 271 



One or two were picked up dead, and from their emaciated con- 

 dition had evidently succumbed to their prolonged hardships ; 

 others obtained a supply of food about such few springs as had 

 not frozen. In open weather you can generally see a nice 

 ' sprinkling ' of Mallard at Edenhall pond, and enjoy their noisy 

 quacking as they rise wild and circle round above the tops of 

 the trees, while the Coots and Dabchicks dive unconcernedly in 

 these retired waters. The males of this species probably 

 average five to every female Wild Duck. Nicol killed twelve 

 Mallard at one shot, all of them drakes. The females are not 

 only less numerous, but they are more difficult to retrieve if 

 wounded, as they show great craft in hiding up in cover when 

 they have been winged. 



Old birds of either sex are always shy during the day, and 

 love to rest in pairs and in bachelor parties in the middle of the 

 thickest covert of sedge available. In open weather it may be 

 difficult to obtain a clear view of them under such circum- 

 stances ; but when a slight film of ice covers the lough, the 

 Mallard can no longer skulk in the aquatic herbage, but are 

 compelled to become clearly visible. When a sharp frost 

 begins to break up, and the thaw loosens the surface of our 

 salt marshes, ' Grey Duck ' often alight openly in such soft 

 spots as are likely to afford them food, just as in autumn they 

 resort to the stubble-fields. 



GADWALL. 



Anas streperus, L. 



The Gad wall is the rarest of all the wild-fowl that can be con- 

 sidered irregular winter visitants to Lakeland, but I have no 

 doubt whatever that at one time such birds of this species as 

 were shot went into the pot, or were sent to market un- 

 identified. Probably the first specimen obtained in Cumberland 

 of recent years is the full-dressed drake preserved at Edenhall, 

 where it was shot during the lifetime of the late Sir E. C. 

 Musgrave, Bart. Mr. Tandy, R. Raine, and myself observed 

 another Gad wall on Whin's pond, Edenhall, in November 1889. 

 It appeared to be a very shy bird. An immature drake was 



