138 DUCK. 



* It usually appears in England and the south of Scotland in April, 

 and again in September. On the Grampians, however, there is reason 

 to believe that it breeds. In the Statistical Account of the Parish of 

 Carmylie, (vol. I., p. 437,) it is said, " the Dottrels, birds of passage, 

 alight on the rising grounds about the beginning of April, continue 

 here about three weeks, remove to the Grampian hills, about twelve 

 miles to the northward, and revisit this parish about the beginning- of 

 August. After abiding- here about three weeks, they fly off to the 

 southward, and are not seen till the first of April following-." Colonel 

 Thornton informed Montagu that he saw Dottrels in pairs on the 

 Grampians, but not young birds.* 



From all accounts, it is quite an alpine bird in the breeding season, 

 and probably breeds with, and may be confounded with, the golden 

 plover, in the highland swamps. It is very rare so far west as Devon- 

 shire ; at least, one only has come under our notice in many years ; 

 but probably it is occasionally found upon the high er mountains of Dart- 

 moor, where the golden plover is said to breed. We suspect that this 

 last bird is often mistaken, in its summer plumage, for the Dottrel, 

 the eggs of which may have been taken on the Mendip hills. 



DOUCKER. — A name for the Divers and Grebes. 



DOVE (Columba, Auctores.) — *A genus of birds which seek their 

 food by scratching in the ground (Rasores, Illiger) ; we have four 

 species native — the Ring, the Rock, the Stock, and Turtle Dove.* 



DOVE-COLOURED FALCON. — A name for the Peregrine 

 Falcon. 



DRINK OF BIRDS. — *It is well known that carnivorous quad- 

 rupeds cannot exist without drink, and that they take liquid by means 

 of their tongue ; rapacious birds seldom or ever drink ; eagles, hawks, 

 and owls, we have kept for years without their ever tasting water. 

 Even in birds which drink, there is no urinary bladder as in other 

 animals, but the urine is received into the straight gut, (rectum,) hence 

 called Cloaca* 



DUCK (Anas, Linnaeus.) — A genus of birds. 



DUCK (Anas Boschas, Linnaeus.) 



Anas Boschas, Linn. Syst. 1. p. 205. 40 Gmel. 2. p. 538 Ind. Orn. 2. p. 850. 



49 — Temm. 2. p. 835 — Anas fera, Briss. 6. p. 318. 4 lb. 8vo. 2. p. 447 



Canard Sauvage, Buff. 9. p. 115. t. 7. 8 Wild Duck, Br. Zool. 2. No. 279. 



t. 97 — lb. f. 175._Arct. Zool. 2. No. 494 Will. (Angl.) p. 308. t. 72. 75 



Albin, 2. t. 10 lb. 1. 1. 99 Lath. Syst. 6. p. 489. 43^-Pult. Cat. Dorset, p. 



21 Wale. Syn. 1. t. 77 — Don. Br. Birds, 5. t. 124 Levin's Br. Birds, 7. 



t. 246 Flem. Br. Anim. p. 123 Common Wild Duck, Mont. Diet. 1. 



The male bird, Mallard or Drake as it is called, weighs about two 



pounds and a half ; length near twenty-three inches. The bill is of a 



