166 MALLARD 
of our streams, one or two birds, or a small party, is of 
frequent occurrence, and they find a daytime shelter also 
in remote recesses under the cliffs of the coast, whence 
they take to the sea when disturbed. The locality in 
which, however, I have seen the largest numbers is on 
the shingle of the northern coast, where the flocks, day 
by day, sleep away the hours of light, the longitudinally 
marked plumage of the drakes, as they nestle close on 
the flats, presenting a curious appearance from the sand- 
hills above. Here I have seen hundreds of birds at 
once, and the same locality is faithfully resorted to year 
after year. 
Mr. Crellin remarks that he has seen Mallard ‘ flying 
along the brows in Michael backwards and forwards just 
as Gulls do, waiting for the tide to ebb, so that they might 
have some shore to sit upon, rather than come inland,’ 
He adds: ‘The common Wild Duck cannot stand a rough 
sea, and will fly off the water whenever a broken wave 
comes, and settle again. If they are wounded, they are 
well able to take care of themselves by diving, and will, 
like the Wigeon, wedge themselves fast under or between 
stones under water, and there remain till they die, rather 
than come to the surface’ (Y. LZ. M, iii. 24). 
Mr. Crellin says also that at the time of the great 
snowstorm in February 1895 Mallard, which had been very 
plentiful, entirely disappeared, to return with Lapwing and 
Curlew when the thaw set in. Mr. C. B. Moffat (Zool., 
1892, p. 147) mentions seeing some Wild Ducks on the 
Silverburn in 1880, ‘so tame, that I mistook them for 
the domesticated variety until they surprised me by taking 
flight.’ 
Fifty-two Manx Wild Duck, against thirty-four im- 
ported, are registered in 1902. Sixty-three are recorded 
in 1903, thirty-nine being Manx and twenty-four imported. 
