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near the sea, and at low tides they are to be met with all along 
the coasts, close inshore, among the tall sea- weeds, where they 
are always very difficult to find. From their habit of rising 
almost perpendicularly from the water, one can almost make 
sure of a successful shot if once within range ; the Mallard 
differing in this habit from most other ducks, which may have 
skimmed away far out of shot almost as soon as they are seen. 
As early as the 16th of March I have seen a drake with a 
few pale feathers about the head and neck, hut I can scarcely 
suppose this to have been the commencement of the moult, 
for it is generally believed that the change of plumage never 
begins sooner than the end or middle of May. 
Ten eggs are sometimes to be seen in a nest, hut eight ap- 
pears to be the usual number. These may be found in a 
fresh state from the middle of May to the end of June, in 
marshes, beside lochs or running water, and often on peat moors 
many hundred feet above the sea-level ; but I never heard of 
a nest so situated that there was no water within a few yards 
distance. Upon the moors it is composed of heather, dry grass, 
and dead plants; while elsewhere, flags, rushes, and various 
other water-plants enter into its composition. A deep burn, with 
steep banks, running through a meadow is a very favourite 
situation, especially when a part of the bank, well covered 
with tall grass and weeds, happening to have slipped down, 
still remains with its surface above water. On a spot of this 
kind 1 once found a Wild Duck sitting upon seven eggs, and 
a few days afterwards, the heavy rains having caused the burn 
to rise, I returned, fully expecting to find the eggs submerged. 
To my surprise, however, the bird had evidently heightened 
the nest, and was quietly sitting upon her eggs, scarcely an 
inch above the surface, and barely hidden by the tall marsh 
Kquisetum, which, while acting as a screen, also prevented the 
the nest from being washed away ; for although it was built 
against the bank, it still required some further protection from 
the force of the stream. The latter having at length fallen, 
I observed that tlie nest was rather conspicuous from the 
