84 
ANATIDiE. 
The food contained in wild ducks, killed in the north of Ireland, 
and examined by me, was almost invariably, in mild weather, of 
a vegetable nature. In addition to this, the birds procured 
during frost in Belfast Bay included, or sometimes were exclu- 
sively filled with, minute shells, of several species, but especially 
the Rissoa ulvee. Of two shot here (February 1848), just after 
arrival from fresh water one had in its bill a horse-leech ( Hirudo 
sanguisuga ) — the other ejected several of them. The stomach 
of an omnivorous mallard, killed at Larne Lough in October 1848, 
and brought to me by Mr. Darragh, curator and taxidermist to 
the Belfast Museum, contained the following: — An eel, four 
inches in length; a crab ( Carcinas mamas), an inch broad across 
the carapace, or shell, and perfect ; of marine univalve and bi- 
valve shell-fish, 1 Lacuna quadrifasciata, 2 Rissoa interrupta, 4 
Rissoa albella ?, 5 Modiola discrepans (fry), about 20 of the 
young of Littorina vulgaris and L. retusa, 40 Montacuta {Mg a) 
purpurea, 391 Bulla obtusa, and 475 Rissoa alba : it contained 
also above 4,500 of the handsomely sculptured seeds of the grass- 
wrack, Zostera marina ; nor was this all, as fully one-tenth of the 
matter — that which adhered to the coats of the stomach — was not 
taken into account. 
Montagu, in the Supplement to his f Ornithological Dictionary/ 
remarks, under “ Cuckow,” that : — “ There are some insects and 
worms that appear to be rejected by most birds. The thrush 
most greedily devours the Umax of the Helix nemoralis, but will 
not eat a naked Umax; this is left for the duck, which is almost 
the only bird that will swallow this slimy morsel.” But, the 
Hon. and Lev. William Herbert, in one of his many interest- 
ing notes to White's ‘ Selborne/* observes : — “I have in vain 
flattered myself that ducks would deliver the garden from this 
nuisance [slugs], and have never found that they would touch 
them.” In the north of Ireland tame ducks eat slugs most 
greedily, and are commonly turned into gardens for the purpose 
of destroying them. I have, myself, very frequently observed 
* Bennett’s edition, p. 443. 
