THE WILD DUCK. 
239 
way by five Pintails, hurrying out in great alarm. Either 
curiosity or desire for shelter must have been the cause of their 
presence there, for the place contained nothing whatever in the 
form of food. 
At all seasons the eye of the adult male is brownish orange ; 
the sides of the bill, bluish lead colour ; from front to tip a 
broad black line, barely including the nostrils ; a black band at 
the base, narrowest at the part behind the nostril ; tarsi and 
feet, lead colour ; the webs and the upper surface of the toes 
tinged with brown ; claws, dark brownish grey. 
THE WILD DUCK. 
Anas hoschas. 
Among the numerous beneficial results of the gun-tax we may 
reckon the already apparent increase in the number of the 
W ild Ducks, and especially of those which remain to breed. As 
the birds are difficult to approach at other times, the breeding 
season was frequently selected for the slaughter ; and on the 
discovery of a nest it was without the least scruple that a 
greedy miscreant would kill the bird and then appropriate the 
eggs. I have even known the young, while still in a partially 
downy state, remorselessly carried off and made use of to 
flavour the day’s broth. These ducks are seldom seen in 
large flocks, except in October, when on first arrival they 
gather together upon the lochs ; soon, however, distributing 
themselves in small parties all over the islands, keeping to tlie 
lochs and burns during the day, but at night and early in the 
morning going up into the corn-fields and feeding upon the 
grain ; often, too, they wander over the potato-fields, in order 
to pick up the numerous small potatoes which lie about the 
surface. 
As soon as the frost sets in, small flocks visit the shores ; 
I have only once seen as many as forty in salt-water. During 
the winter they are to be found at most of the burn mouths 
