1 6 The Natural History of British Ducks 
day-feeders. That it is natural for them to feed freely during the hours of 
light is shown by the fact that in places (few and far between though they be) 
where Mallard and Wigeon are not subject to much persecution, and where the 
tide is suitable, they come by day in their companies to the feeding-ground. 
Mallard do not gather together in such large flocks, nor feed in so com- 
pact a formation, as Wigeon, except in the very worst weather, when they 
will mix indiscriminately with Wigeon, Teal, and Pintail. In fact, the result of 
a good shot with the punt gun in the best fowling weather sometimes shows 
all four species. I have seen as many as 500 Mallard sleeping close together 
and floating down with the tide on the Moray Firth, but fifty is commonly 
considered a large number to find at rest by day on the sea. A big flock of 
them may occasionally fly in to feed on some favoured spot, but they soon 
scatter all over the locality in pairs and little lots ; and so, when alarmed, 
they do not rise together in a compact formation like Wigeon and Teal, but 
each little group takes flight in succession. 
Such naturally intelligent birds as Mallard know very well when and 
where they are protected. On the river outside the late Mr. Cecil Smith's 
place at Wiveliscombe, in Somerset, the wild ducks, being greatly harried, 
were quite unapproachable, and yet I have seen them, when passing over the 
lake in the park, suddenly drop from a great height and alight almost at my 
feet, and there clamour for food. Another good instance of the success of 
protection is the lake by the stables at Monymusk, Sir Arthur Grant's beauti- 
ful place in Aberdeenshire, where any autumn or winter evening one may 
see from one to two hundred perfectly wild Mallard sitting on the little reedy 
island or preening themselves in the water. When I was there in 1895 about 
a hundred of these charming birds were on the pond, and, on the coachman 
calling them, they came off the water, walked out to us in the stable-yard 
and received a good feed of oats. The following day, when out shooting with 
Sir Arthur, we found the duck at other excellent haunts in the vicinity as 
wild and ' tall ' as the most enthusiastic shooter could desire. 
About twenty years seems to be the limit of life of the surface-feeding 
