80 
ANATIDjE. 
multitudes of them, and “ beautiful exceedingly" they looked, 
without a single dull-plumaged female among them. 
Belfast Bay . — My few notes of the early and late appearance 
of the species here are: — In the middle of August 1832, a few 
were seen, and also at the end of the same month in 1839 : on 
the 23rd of August, 1810, a flock of twenty-eight appeared on 
wing, proceeding in a southerly direction, and were supposed to 
be on migration. So late as April 7 (1838), a flock of about 
thirty was seen.* They sometimes frequent rocky islets in great 
numbers late in autumn and in winter: on the 7th December, 
1833, in particular, I remarked them in the afternoon, between 
two and three o'clock (three hours before high-water), covering 
over such islets off Eockport. They probably resort thither as 
the only safe places of refuge on land, when tired of the water. 
They looked like Grallatores (see Curlew, Yol. II.) awaiting the fall- 
ing of the tide and consequent uncovering of their feeding banks. t 
The period already noticed, when so many mallards appeared in 
this bay, was in very severe weather ; but in the mild winters of 
1813-11 and 1811-15, both ducks and mallards associated to- 
gether (they do not mix much with other species) were very 
* At BaUydrain lake a greater number were observed about the same date in 
1849. On the 81st March, 1848, the wild ducks from the lake at Lurgan House, 
county of Armagh, had not betaken themselves to their breeding haunts, as numbers 
of them (many more than would breed there) sprang in pairs as we walked around 
its banks. 
f “ Two small islands on the south coast of the county of Wexford, called the 
Keroes, about a mile from the shore, are, in the winter season, the daily resort of 
immense flocks of Anatidce. These birds lie on and around the islands during the 
day, and at nightfall resort to the mainland, over which they spread themselves in 
all suitable localities. On these flights they fly at a considerable height, and are fre- 
quently shot by fowlers, who wait for them on hill-tops which lie in their course. 
They arrive at the islands about the first grey of the morning, and remain in the 
vicinity during the day. If the weather be very fine, and the sea calm, they lie 
much of the day on the water and between the islands. Duck, teal, and wigeon 
form the bulk of these flocks. The first that arrive in the morning are most vigilant, 
and least easily approached. A small salt-water pond among the rocks is nearly ex- 
clusively occupied by teal, which often lie on it in numbers. 
“ I observed a common tame duck, while washing and cleaning its feathers, fre- 
quently sipping up a little water at intervals, as if for the purpose of assisting in the 
operation, possibly by diluting the fluid of its gland. When it had moistened its 
bill with a fresh supply of water, it took the feathers separately, and drew them 
through that organ, champing them diligently until it had brought them to a satis- 
factory condition.” — Mr. Joseph Poole. 
