266 BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 
which continued to fly about the pond, and acted as a 
decoy to many drakes which were shot. When about 
four years old she was given to a friend in Fifeshire, 
but after a night and a day's confinement, she escaped 
and in the course of a few hours was among her old com- 
panions in Annandale. She was caught and sent back, 
and her wings were clipped, but later, the feathers growing 
again, she again took wing one day, and was shot en roiUe 
" in the neighbourhood of Biggar by a gentleman who com- 
municated the circumstance to the owner with the collar 
which was found about the neck with his name and place 
of abode."* • i 
In autumn and winter a considerable accession to tne 
number of our residents is caused by the immigration of 
MaUard from the Continent : these birds are thought 
to be smaller and somewhat darker. When migratmg this 
species at times travels at a great height. On September 
12th 1902, Mr. R. Service, while using a powerful 8-mcn 
reflecting telescope, suddenly saw at 9.11 p.m. against the 
disc of the moon, nine or ten Wild Ducks pass SSW by S. 
He calculated that these birds were some five miles oft, 
and about three thousand feet up.f 
In severe winters Mallard become much tamer, and are 
forced to frequent any open ditches or springs where they 
can still find a sufficiency of food. 
The nest of the Wild Duck is usually on the ground, ana 
often on the moors far from any piece of water. Occa- 
sionally it is found in such situations as to make it proble- 
matical how the young are got safely to the ground. Dr. 
Anstruther Davidson recorded that a certain nesting-site m 
Upper Nithsdale which was annually resorted to, was on an 
overhanging ledge some twenty feet above the bed of the 
River Nith, whence the duck had to either carry her 
ducklings or drop them over into the water.J 
* Dumfries Courier, March 3rd, 1818. 
t Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist., 1903, p. 50. 
t Trans. D. and O. Nat. Hist. Soc, November 10th, 1888. 
