DUCK. 
139 
yellowish green ; irides hazel ; the head and upper part of the neck 
deep glossy green, bounded below with a white circle, which almost 
surrounds the neck ; the lower part of the neck before, and the breast, 
dull pur^jlish ; the back is brown ; the sides and scapulars white, marked 
with numerous small undulated lines of brown ; the rum]), upper 
and under tail coverts, black ; on the wing* coverts is a transverse 
streak of white, edged with another of black ; beneath which is the 
speculum, of a fine purplish or violet blue, on the secondary quills, 
which are shaded to a black near the ends, and tipped with white, and 
forms another narrow line of this last colour on the wings ; the belly is 
pale grey, minutely speckled with light brown in undulated lines ; the 
tail consists of twenty feathers, the four middle ones are of a glossy 
greenish black, and curve upwards in a singular manner, and so con- 
nected as to appear only as two feathers ; the others are strait, pointed, 
and of a greyish brown, margined with white. 
The female is not so large, and of a rusty brown, spotted with dusky 
black ; the speculum on the wing is like the male ; but none of the 
tail feathers are curved ; the legs of both sexes are orange. 
The Duck breeds on many of our rivers and lakes, sometimes at a 
considerable distance from the water. It scrapes together a little of 
such vegetables as are contiguous for a nest, and lays from ten to 
eighteen eggs of a bluish white. At the time of incubation, the female 
plucks the down from her breast to line the nest, and frequently covers 
the eggs when she leaves them. 
It frequently happens that a large variety of this bird is caught in 
our decoys, or shot by the sportsman ; but these are only half-domesti- 
cated Ducks, which are obliged to leave the canals or pieces of water 
belonging to private persons, when they become frozen. These are 
called Rouen Ducks. 
It is observable in most kinds of birds whose young leave the nest as 
soon as hatched, that they deposit their eggs on the ground. There 
are, however, some instances in which this species, the sheldrake, and 
perhaps others, occasionally vary in this particular. 
We have been assured, by a person of undoubted veracity, that a 
half-domesticated Duck made a nest in Rumford Tower, hatched her 
young, and brought them down in safety to a piece of water at a con- 
siderable distance. Others have been known to breed in trees ; and we 
recollect the nest of this bird being found in the head of an old pollard 
willow impending the water, from whence the young might readily 
drop unhurt into their natural element. * Mr. Tunstall mentions one, at 
Etchingham, in Sussex, which was found sitting upon nine eggs, on an 
