A NIGHT FEEDER. 
215 
This is the Wild Duck, active and agile, quick of sight 
and quick of motion, whether on earth, in air, cr water ; 
very different from the waddling, quacling, plethoric 
creature to whom Mrs. Bond addresses the invitation — 
Dilly-dilly ! dilly-dilly ! come and be killed ! 
Macgillivray furnishes us with the following particulars 
of the habits of this species : — 
The Mallard, wliicli is one of our truly indigenous Ducks, occurs in 
variable numbers in all parts of the country, being more abundant 
in marshy and thinly-peopled districts than in such as are dry and 
well cultivated. It is almost needless to remark that the great 
improvements which have taken place in agriculture within the last 
fifty years, and especially the vast extension of draining, have 
banished it from many tracts where it was formerly very plentiful. 
Still it is by no means rare in any large section of the country, and in very 
many districts quite common. In winter it for the most part removes 
from the higher grounds to the hollows and level tracks, and in frosty 
weather betakes itself to the shores of estuaries, and even of the open 
sea. In the Cromarty and Beauly Friths great numbers occur along 
the shores during the winter and spring, and at night especially 
frequent the muddy parts, where they feed on worms and mollusca. 
Around Edinburgh are numerous open ditches and some brooks, to 
which they resort at night from October to April, when they may be 
started in great numbers by a person searching their haunts by 
moonlight. A friend of mine has often shot them on such occasions, 
and I have myself seen them thus engaged. It being by touch more 
than by sight that the Mallard obtains its food, the night appears to 
be as favourable for this purpose as the day, and is chiefly used in 
populous districts, while in the wilder parts it feeds at least as much 
by day. Marshy places, the margins of lakes, pools, and rivers, as 
well as brooks, rUls, and ditches, are its principal places of resort at 
all seasons. It walks with ease, even runs with considerable speed, 
swims, and on occasion dives, although not in search of food. Seeds 
of graminese and other plants, fleshy and fibrous roots, worms, mol- 
lusca, 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 puddling 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 especially 
in flying off, quack ; but the quack of the female is much louder. 
