The Common Duck, or Mallard.
English Synonyms.—Mallard: McGillivray, Jenyns. Common Wild Duck: Montagu, Selby.
Latin Synonym.—Anas boschas: Linn., Latham, Jenyns, Bonaparte, Temminck.
French Synonym.—Canard sauvage: Temminck.
Fig. 86.—Wild Ducks (Anas boschas).
The plumage of the Wild Duck is dense and elastic. The head, throat, and upper part of the neck of the male are adorned with hues of a bright emerald green, shot with violet; its breast is of a purplish brown; its back is ashy brown, sprinkled with greyish-white zigzag bars; the four feathers in the middle of the tail, curling up at the end in a semicircle, are of a blackish hue with a green reflection; its length is about twenty-four inches; length of wing, thirty-five inches. The female, which is always smaller than her mate, does not possess the bright colours which adorn the Drake. Her plumage is brown and russet grey. Individuals sometimes, though seldom, vary. Sir William Jardine states that he has seen Drakes having the upper parts of a bluish grey, decreasing in depth of colouring down the breast; and Mr. Yarrell mentions two instances in which females of this species have assumed, to a considerable extent, the appearance and plumage of the Mallard, even to the curling feathers of the tail. On the other hand, the male plumage, according to Mr. Waterton, undergoes a singular alteration. About the end of May the breast and back of the Drake begin to change colour; in a few days the curled feathers of the tail drop out, and grey feathers begin to appear in the lovely green plumage round the eyes; and, by the 23rd of June, scarcely one green feather remains. By the 6th of July all the green feathers have disappeared, and the male has assumed the female garb, but darker in colour. In August this new plumage begins to drop off, and by the middle of October the Drake again reappears in all the rich magnificence of its former dress.
The Wild Duck ([Fig. 86]) forms the original stock from which our Domestic Ducks have sprung. Their favourite resorts are to be found in those hyperborean regions whose rigorous climate renders it uninhabitable by man. The rivers of Lapland, Greenland, and Siberia are sometimes literally covered with them; and, in the month of May, their nests are there found in quantities which the imagination can scarcely picture. At the first approach of frost their earliest harbingers begin to appear among us, and about the middle of October these travelling bands arrive in increasing numbers.
Wild Ducks have a powerful, sustained, and rapid flight. With one stroke of the wing they raise themselves either from the land or water, and mount perpendicularly above the summits of the loftiest trees, when they take a more horizontal course, maintaining themselves at a great height, and making long journeys without rest. Triangular columns of them may sometimes be seen directing their unerring course towards their destination, the rustling of their wings being heard at considerable distances. The leading bird, which directs the course of the band, and which is thus exposed to the first resistance of the wind, from being foremost to cleave the air, soon becomes fatigued, when it falls back into the second rank, its place in the van being immediately taken by another ([Fig. 87]).
Wild Ducks are extremely suspicious in their nature. When they want to settle down on any spot, or to go from one pool to another, they sweep round in concentric curves, descending and ascending again and again, until they have made a complete survey of their intended halting-place.
The margins of fresh-water lakes, pools, and marshes are the principal localities frequented by the Wild Duck, so long as the frosts of winter do not prevent their obtaining the water-insects and aquatic weeds on which they feed. But when the frost has congealed the stagnant waters, they take themselves off into more temperate climates, invariably following the course of the rivers and running streams. When they return northward after the great thaw—that is, about the end of February—they keep in pairs, and disperse themselves in search of breeding-places among the rushes, reeds, and sedge-grasses, constructing a bulky nest of weeds, which is simply placed on the ground, and generally near to water.
Fig. 87.—Flight of Wild Ducks.
Much elegance is not to be looked for in the nest of the Wild Duck. A favourite situation is a thickly-growing tuft of sedge, and they content themselves with plucking off a few of the blades, the ends of which they bend down so as to form a foundation, the surface being covered with a soft layer of down. Their nests are occasionally found at some distance from the water, amidst heath or broom, or even in the fork of a tree, the female having been known to take possession of a Magpie's or Crow's nest which had been abandoned.
The Duck lays from five to ten eggs, and sometimes more; their colour varies, but is generally a dull greenish white. The female sits alone, and only leaves the nest to seek her food. When leaving her nest, she covers it up carefully with any rubbish at hand; on her return, the cunning creature alights a considerable distance from it, and glides through the grass, looking in every direction to see that she is not watched; if discovered, she will even feign lameness to induce pursuit, so that she may draw off intruders.
Incubation lasts about a month. The young ones are then hatched, all generally bursting the egg on the same day. They are covered with a close yellow down, and are quite alert when they leave the shell; and their mother soon leads them down to the water, encouraging them by her example to enter it. They do not return to the nest. At night their mother covers them under her wings, and at first feeds them with the small flies that come within her reach.
The ducklings, although they soon learn to swim, are unable to fly till after the expiration of three months; after that lapse of time wing-feathers are developed sufficiently to enable them to take flight. But they are always alert and active on the water, diving and remaining under it for many minutes with nothing but the bill above the surface. When danger approaches, the mother utters a peculiar cry, and the young ones immediately conceal themselves. In a ditch full of water, Mr. McGillivray once came upon a whole brood of half-grown ducklings which disappeared in a moment; and although he searched everywhere for them, he did not succeed in finding a single one. When the Duck perceives the great Black-backed Gull, the ruthless enemy of her race, she beats the water with her wings as if to attract the attention of the aggressor. On his approach she darts at him with so much vigour that she compels him to retire, shamefully beaten.
Audubon relates a remarkable instance of maternal affection in this bird. The American naturalist had found in the woods a female of this species at the head of her young brood. As he approached, he noticed that her feathers became erect, and that she hissed with a threatening gesture, after the manner of Geese. In the meantime, the ducklings made off in all directions. His Dog, which was perfectly trained, brought the little creatures to him, one by one, without doing them the least injury. But in all his proceedings he was watched by the mother, who kept passing and repassing in front of him, as if to distract his attention. When the ducklings were all safe in the game-bag, in which they struggled and cried out, the mother came with a sad and troubled air, and placed herself close to the sportsman, as if unable to suppress her despair. Audubon, seeing her grovelling almost under his feet, was filled with pity, and restored her little family before leaving the spot. "When I turned round to watch her," adds the naturalist, "I really fancied I could detect an expression of gratitude in her eyes; and I experienced at that moment one of the most vivid sensations of pleasure I have ever enjoyed."
Whilst the mother is devoting herself to the education of her brood, the father pays but little attention to his progeny. Jaded and thin, he lives a solitary and quiescent life, more sad and wild than ever. He has, in fact, to submit to a most sudden course of moulting. The female also loses her plumage after the young ones are hatched. They neither of them regain their more brilliant dress until the end of autumn.
Fig. 88.—Shooting over Decoy Ducks.
There are numerous instances proving that Wild Ducks are susceptible of attachment to man, and it is certain that they can be easily tamed. They also breed readily with the Domestic Duck; and the crossed birds thus produced are said to have an excellent flavour, and to fatten with facility. Mr. St. John, in his "Wild Sports in the Highlands," remarks that he has frequently caught and brought home young Wild Ducks. "If confined in a yard with tame birds for a week or two, they strike up a companionship which keeps them from wandering when set at liberty. Some years ago I brought home three, two of which turned out to be Drakes. I sent away my tame Ducks, and the next season I had a large family of half-bred and wholly Wild Ducks, as the tame and wild bred together quite freely. The Wild Ducks which have been caught turned out the tamest of all,—throwing off all shyness, they follow their feeder, and will eat corn out of the hand of any one they know; while the half-bred birds are inclined to take wing and fly away for the purpose of making their nests at a distance."
Fig. 89.—Open Duck-shooting.
The flesh of the Wild Duck is much esteemed. But they are birds which are very difficult to approach, in consequence of their suspicious nature; and in order to get even a long shot at them, it is necessary to have recourse to stratagem. Even when successful in your aim, the shot often fails to penetrate, owing to the thick layers of their downy covering. Various artifices, therefore, are employed to lure them, all of which require some cleverness. They are shot from a watching-place, being seduced to its neighbourhood by employing Domestic Ducks which act as decoys ([Fig. 88]). They are also shot from huts on the edge of the water. Sometimes they are attracted by means of lights, or by imitating their call. Many are taken in nets, in decoy-weirs, and in snares; they are sometimes even taken by means of baited fish-hooks, and many other strange contrivances.
The ordinary open Duck-shooting, as represented in [Fig. 89], is far from being so productive as some of the former methods, but it is much more attractive. No sport is more uncertain, but occasionally none is more fruitful, or more full of unexpected successes.
Duck-shooting from a hut, as represented in [Fig. 90], is the method most practised. The sportsmen are hidden in a small hut placed on the edge of some lake or river, or it may be erected in the middle of the water on a heap of stones. Here they lie in wait for the birds in order to get a close shot at them. They generally use fowling-pieces of great length and large calibre, called Duck-guns. Shooting from Duck punts is also practised all round the coast, and on the larger lakes, ponds, and estuaries.
On the Saône, the gunners, accompanied by a boatman, take their places in a long, light, narrow, pointed boat, or punt, called a fourquette. The two men, lying down in the bottom of the boat, are hidden by faggots placed in front of them, the muzzle of the duck-gun protruding through the faggots. Thus floating down the river among the Ducks, they get an opportunity of shooting them without being perceived. Sportsmen in France sometimes employ a very odd artifice to baffle the suspicious instinct of these birds: a man disguises himself as a cow by means of an outline of the animal roughly made of common cardboard. Under favour of this disguise he gets near the Wild Ducks without exciting their fears, if only aware how to make good use of his device; that is, if he describes gentle and graceful curves, so as to advance gradually without alarming the timid Palmipedes. But this sport, though productive enough when skilfully managed, is not unattended with danger. A sportsman, who had dressed himself up in this disguise, happened inadvertently to find his way among a herd of cattle, which, detecting the imposture, immediately ran at him and chased him about the meadow. He thought himself fortunate in escaping with the loss of his disguise, which he abandoned to the fury of his horned assailants.
Fig. 90.—Duck-shooting from a Hut.
Large numbers of Ducks are taken by means of nets and various snares, which want of space prevents us from here enumerating.
The Domestic Duck, Anas domestica, is a descendant of the Wild Duck, or, as some think, of the Shoveller. The first tame Duck, the ancestor of a family since so prodigiously multiplied, probably proceeded from an egg which had been taken from some reedy marsh, and hatched under a Hen.
The Duck, however, has been reduced to a state of domesticity from a very remote period, and has been of incalculable utility to mankind, filling in our poultry-yards no unworthy place. Ducks' eggs are a wholesome and agreeable article of food, and the flesh of the bird itself is most savoury. Epicures highly prized, and rightly so, the pâtés de foie de canard of Toulouse, Strasbourg, Nérac, and Amiens (we arrange them here in their order of merit, not according to Baron Brisse's dictum, but following our own poor gastronomic capabilities). Their feathers, although not so valuable as those of the Goose, are articles of considerable importance in commerce.
Ducks produce large profits to those who rear them. They are by no means choice in their food. Nothing comes amiss to their palate; the corn scattered about the yard which is disdained by other fowls, and the meanest remnants of the leavings of the table and kitchen, they do not reject. All that they require as an essential is to have a little water within reach in which they can paddle at will.
Ducks' eggs are often put under a Hen to be hatched. When seeking her food, the Hen sometimes leads her little flock to the edge of water, and gives them a glimpse of its dangers. But the ducklings, impelled by instinct, rush into the element they are most partial to. The poor mother, anxious for the fate of the young giddy-pates, which she loves as her own offspring, utters cries of terror. She would resolutely throw herself into the stream, and perhaps get drowned, were she not soothed by seeing them swimming about, happy and active. This shows her that in them she cannot recognise her own flesh and blood.
There are several favourite varieties of the Domestic Duck, but those of Normandy and Picardy, in France, and the Aylesbury Ducks in England, are the most profitable. Every nation rears Ducks; but the Chinese undeniably most excel in this art. For hatching them the Celestials have recourse to artificial heat. They also possess some superb varieties, which have been recently imported into Europe, and are at the present time the glory of our ornamental waters. Magnificent pairs of Chinese Ducks, of which the Mandarin is the most beautiful, may be admired in the Jardin d'Acclimatation at Paris, at the Zoological Gardens of the Regent's Park, and also in the artificial waters in the parks and gardens of our principal cities.
The Common Wild Duck, which we have described, is the type of the order of Ducks; but there are about seventy other species. The most remarkable are the Widgeon, the Poachard, the Shoveller, the Shieldrake, the Eider Duck, the Teal, the Black Diver, and the Merganser.