The Mallard 13 
The same day I saw them repeat this trick, and they no doubt carried it on 
all through the season with undiminished success. 
Later on I shall endeavour to portray the Mallard as they appear at 
different times, describing in detail their various changes of plumage ; but 
here I may say that about June 20 commences the annual change into the 
eclipse plumage, and while this is going on, the drake, like the Blackcock 
and many other birds, gradually loses his gorgeous attire, and with it his pride 
in himself, his gallantry and his courage. His whole nature is changed; he 
becomes shy and even cowardly. And now, profiting by the occasion, the 
perky, half-grown youngsters begin to assert themselves in a way they never 
dared to do before. Without a moment's hesitation they will turn the old 
birds off their resting-places, or chase them from their feeding grounds ; and 
that with absolute impunity, not one of the poor bedraggled old things daring 
to resent the impertinence. As July passes away the old drakes become more 
and more shy in their habits, and are only to be seen far out on open sheets 
of water, from which small flocks of them rise on the slightest alarm, and 
towards the end of the month so conscious are they of the sorry figure they 
cut, that they hide by day in the great reed beds which are to be their secure 
retreat during the first fortnight in August, when the moulting of their 
primaries renders them incapable of flight. If their haunts be assailed in 
August, these old drakes are exceedingly cunning in eluding the vigilance of 
both men and dogs. Like the old stags who, in the summer-time, when their 
horns are growing, make their retreat in the plantation nearest to the keeper's 
house, they commonly consort together in a reed bed entirely surrounded 
by water, and as near as possible to a human habitation where their presence 
would least be suspected. Only when September comes in do they begin to 
take heart again. Their full powers of flight are now restored to them, and 
as recoloration and new feathers come in they once more take a pride 
in their appearance, and gradually begin to consort again with some of the 
old females and the far-advanced young ducks which have been hatched early 
in the year. Thus as the year progresses the usual winter flocks are formed. 
