154 THE MALLARD. 
it is out-and-out the commonest Duck. I killed from a dozen 
to twenty daily, and might easily have killed double that 
number. They were, comparatively speaking, very tame, and 
I used to drift down on them in a little boat to within thirty 
or forty yards, as they sat in small parties asleep at the water’s 
edge, bagging two or three as they sat, and knocking over 
one and sometimes two more, as they rose, with the second 
barrel. In the Indus, too, they were equally abundant but 
more wary, as people continually shoot at them from the 
steamers, and in most of the larger inland waters of Sindh I 
met with them in great numbers. At first starting, the Mallard 
lies better, and affords better sport than any of the other Ducks, 
and when you first go on to a broad that has not previously 
been shot that season, the Mallard keep continually rising, 
pretty close to the boat, from under the boughs of_ water-sur- 
rounded tamarisk trees and clumps of rush, affording beauti- 
ful shots.” | 
As regards their habits, it is useless attempting to repeat, in 
probably less accurate language, what Macgillivray, our greatest 
British field-ornithologist, has already told so admirably; and 
I shall just quote his remarks, only adding that time after 
time, both at home and out here, I have verified every word. He 
says :— 
“Marshy places, the margins of lakes, pools and rivers, as 
well as brooks, rills and ditches, are its principal places of resort 
at all seasons. It walks with ease, even runs with consider- 
able speed, swims, and on occasion dives, although not in search 
of food. Seeds of graminez and other plants, fleshy and 
fibrous roots, worms, mollusca, insects, small reptiles, and fishes, 
are the principal objects of its search. In shallow water, it 
reaches the bottom with its bill, keeping the hind part of the 
body erect by a continued motion of the feet. On the water it 
sits rather lightly, with the tail considerably inclined upwards ; 
when searching under the surface it keeps the tail flat on the 
water ; and when paddling at the bottom with its hind part up, 
it directs the tail backward. The male emits a low and rather 
soft cry between a croak and a murmur, and the female a 
louder and clearer jabber. Both on being alarmed, and especi- 
ally in flying off, quack; but the quack of the female is much 
louder. When feeding, they are silent ; but when satiated they 
often amuse themselves with various jabberings, swim about, 
approach each other, move their heads backward and forward, 
“duck” in the water, throwing it up over their backs, shoot 
along its surface, half-flying, half-running, and in short, are 
quite playful when in good humour. On being surprised or 
alarmed, whether on shore or on water, they spring up at once 
with a bound, rise obliquely to a considerable height, and fly 
off with speed, their hard-quilled wings whistling against the 
air, When in full flight, their velocity is very great, being 
