MALLARD. 
123 
known of some solitary pairs breeding here in autumn. In Eng- 
land these instances are more common. The nest is usually placed 
in the most solitary recesses of the marsh, or bog, amidst coarse 
grass, reeds, and rushes, and generally contains from twelve to 
sixteen eggs of a dull greenish white. The young are led about 
by the mother in the same manner as those of the tame Duck ; but 
with a superior caution, a cunning and watchful vigilance, pecu- 
liar to her situation. The male attaches himself to one female, 
as among other birds in their native state, and is the guardian 
and protector of her and her feeble brood. The Mallard is nu- 
merous in the rice fields of the southern states during winter ; 
many of the fields being covered with a few inches of water, and 
the scattered grains of the former harvest lying in abundance, the 
Ducks swim about and feed at pleasure. 
The flesh of the common Wild Duck is in general and high 
estimation ; and the ingenuity of man, in every country where it 
frequents, has been employed in inventing stratagems to overreach 
these wary birds, and procure a delicacy for the table. To enu- 
merate all these various contrivances would far exceed our limits ; 
a few, however, of the most simple and eflective may be men- 
tioned. 
In some ponds frequented by these birds, five or six wooden 
figures, cut and painted so as to represent Ducks, and sunk, by 
pieces of lead nailed on their bottoms, so as to float at the usual 
depth on the surface, are anchored in a favorable position for be- 
ing raked from a concealment of brush, &c. on shore. 1 he ap- 
pearance of these usually attracts passing flocks, which alight, and 
are shot down. Sometimes eight or ten of these painted wooden 
Ducks are fixed on a frame in various swimming postures, and se- 
cured to the bow of the gunner’s skiflF, projecting before it in such 
a manner that the weight of the frame sinks the figures to their 
proper depth ; the skiff is then drest with sedge or coarse grass 
in an artful manner, as low as the water’s edge ; and under cover 
