CHAPTER XXVIII. 
DUCKS. 
TTTITH regard to the origin of the numerous varieties of our domesticated ducks, 
^ * a similar amount of rash assertion and ignorant assumption prevails as 
in the cases of the supposed origin of the other species of domestic poultry. 
Naturalists who have paid the greatest degree of attention to the origin and 
variation of our domestic animals, have no doubt on the subject, referring all 
the varieties, even those most abnormal in form and colour, to the common Wild 
duck or Mallard. Mr. Darwin, whose researches into the variation of species 
have been carried on with great labour through a long series of years, has favoured 
us with his opinion on the subject. He states : — “ With respect to the origin of 
the domestic duck, I have considered the case well, and am convinced that all the 
breeds, including the Black Labrador and Penguin ducks, are the descendants 
of the common Wild duck.” 
Such being the case, it is desirable to investigate to some extent the natural 
history and habits of the wild original, and this is more especially necessary, as the 
plumage of the so-called Rouen duck must accord precisely with that of the 
wild bird. 
For these two reasons, we have quoted from the most practical and exact of all 
the writers on British Ornithology, the much-lamented Macgillivray, the following 
admirable account of the general characters, habits, and plumage of the wild 
birds. In the fifth volume of his most valuable treatise on British Birds, Mac- 
gillivray writes : — 
