i

 
  

1

iii bik J

  

  

ite ¢ ace anv their mother to the water, where they swim
being covered with stifish down and quite ere t
a as expertly as if they bad been born 1n tt. ! |
ee ue the Mallard is clothed in the style of Minnie ‘ae
of the accompanying plate ; but the latter season being passed and repro uction - iieved, his inery is
exchanged for a sombre dress of various shades of brown, the beautifully curled feathers on his rump
the 2 male at ‘Vy are so ernas lice
are thrown off, and his appearance so closely resembles that of the female that oe scarcely
distinguishable one from the other. This summer-plumage of the Drake 1s carried while the Duck
hatches forth her young; so that father, mother, and chicks, on the latter assuming their first feathers,

| . . | p \ ( | . h w rer. § t ik 28 pl ice 1n e ] ae e ) c Kes,
are a very much alike II appearance. 4 ange, 0 EVGis sOOn akes c slum we : th > l I il >
| ume < chi rac eristic dress which, as before stated Is carried hrough he winter and spring.
WHO ass vie | 1 ; ; t t 2 t |
300 C | | 1mage of the Ma lard Is th IS charac eristicall described by he la Cc Mr. VW a erton
The cl “ {7 th wun . 4 t V S t 7 t > t

from persoval observation :— 7
“At the close of the breeding-season the drake undergoes a very remarkable change of plumage. On

viewing it, all speculation on the part of the ornithologist is utterly confounded ; for there is not the
smallest clue afforded him by which he may be enabled to trace out the cause of this strange phenomenon.
‘To Him, alone, who has ordered the Ostrich to remain on the earth, and allowed the Bat to range through
the ethereal vault of heaven, is known why the Drake for a very short period of the year should be so
completely clothed in the raiment of the female that it requires a keen and penetrating eye to distinguish
the one from the other. About the 24th of May the breast and back of the drake exhibit the first
appearance of a change of colour. In a few days after this the curled feathers above the tail drop out, and
grey feathers begin to appear amongst the lovely green plumage which surrounds the eyes. Every
succeeding day now brings marks of rapid change. By the 23rd of June scarcely one single green feather
is to be seen on the head and neck of the bird. By the 6th of July every feather of the former brilliant
plumage bas disappeared, and the male has received a garb like that of the female, though of a somewhat
darker tint. In the early part of August this new plumage begins to drop off gradually ; and by the 10th of
October the drake will appear again in all his rich magnificence of dress, than which scarcely any thing
throughout the whole wide field of natare can be seen more lovely or better arranged to charm the eye
of man. Thus we may say that once every year, for a very short period, the drake goes, as it were, into an
eclipse, so that, from the early part of the month of July to about the first week of August, neither in the
poultry-yards of civilized man nor through the vast expanse of nature’s widest range can there be found a
drake in that plumage which at all other seasons of the year is so remarkably splendid and diversified.”

The situation of the nest is exceedingly varied, being sometimes placed among the reeds at the edge of
the water the birds frequent; at others it is constructed far up on the heath or in the forest, and not
unfrequently on the head of a pollard oak or willow, in a hollow of the bare ground, in the midst of a
tussock of grass, under a stone, &c. The composition of the nest is as varied as its site, being in some
instances a bulky mass rudely constructed of flags, sedges, grasses, &c., at others of grass intermixed and
lined with feathers and down. The eggs are from six to ten in number, rather larger and longer than
those of the common fowl, and of a dull light greenish stone-colour. The chicks immediately after their
alert, have all their energies perfect, and readily seek for, and obtain,
their insect food both on the land and on the water, and hide themselves

exclusion from the eggs are exceeding

, on the approach of a fancied enemy,
with great facility among the herbage or any other object that may offer seclusion and safety ; indeed, at
this period of their existence their shyness is most remarkable, a disposition not readily effaced if an attempt
be made towards their domestication, either when hatched by a tame Duck, or by their frequent foster-
parent, the ordinary fowl. ;

The Mallard frequently interbreeds with the Pintail, the Muscovy Duck, and other species, the produce
being sometimes twice the weight of those from which they spring: thas in December, 1862, the late
Earl of Craven sent me two birds, the product of a cross between the Mallard and the Pintail, which

course these enormously heavy Ducks were domesti-
rhe weights of two wild Mallards I killed
extraordinary condition, were respectively 2 lbs. ll-oz. and 2 Ibs

weighed, the one 6 lbs. 3 0z.. the other 6lbs. Of

cated and not wild birds. ‘ ee
at Somerleyton, in fair but not

ji 15 oz.
t is guite unnecessary for > _ : : : ‘ : :
Mt 4 “s : — sary for me to speak of the excellence of this bird as a viand for the table, or the
uselulness of its feathers, since ly hae :

: eathers, sinc both are so generally known that they need not be commented upon 5
neither need | attempt to describe the y :

means of nets, decoys, &e.:

ariot . a: oie : : . - * :
arious modes of capturing the bird on its arrival in this country by

ae " — formation on these points will find them admirably
caescribed and 1 ustrated In the Rey, Richard Lubbock’s ‘ Observations on the Fauna of Norfolk ,
c c i Ne

‘The figures are a trifle smaller oe : ;
rifle smaller than the n: with a flight of these birds in the distance.

those Ww ho desire

itural size,