British Birds in Their Haunts

by C. A. Johns

Sheld means parti-coloured. 'Shelled' is still current in the eastern counties of England. Shelled duck is the more proper appellation. Howard Saunders calls it Sheld-duck always.

THE WILD DUCK
ANAS BOSCAS

Head and neck dark green; at the base of the neck a white collar; upper parts marked with fine zigzag lines of ash-brown and grey; breast chestnut; lower parts greyish white, marked with fine zigzag ash-brown lines; speculum dark blue with purple and green reflections, bordered above and below with black and white; four middle feathers of the tail curled upwards; bill greenish yellow; irides red-brown; feet orange. Length twenty-four inches. Female smaller; plumage mottled with various shades of brown and grey; throat whitish; speculum as in the male; all the tail-feathers straight. Eggs greenish white.

Its size, abundance, and value as an article of food, have given to the Wild Duck an importance which belongs to few other British birds; and the modes of capturing it are so varied and interesting that they are often to be met with described in works not exclusively devoted to natural history. For this reason I shall in great measure confine my notice of this bird to such particulars in its history as the reader may probably have an opportunity of verifying by his own observation in the course of his rambles among places which it habitually frequents.

The term Wild Duck', properly applicable to the female bird only ('Mallard' being the distinctive name of the male), is generally employed to include both sexes. The difference in the plumage of the two is very great, as, indeed, is the case with all those varieties of the same bird which, under the name of 'Tame Ducks,' have altered the least from their natural wild type. Yet in the summer months, when both sexes moult,[33] the Mallard puts off the whole of his characteristic gay plumage, and appears in the sober brown garb of the Duck. It is only, in fact, from October to May that the Mallard can be distinguished from his partner by his markings. At this season, too, young birds, so far as they are fledged, are of the same tone of colouring. Domesticated birds are subject to the same change; but a reason for this singular metamorphosis no naturalist, as far as I am aware, has ventured to assign.

Wild Ducks hold a prominent place among birds of the most extensive distribution, being 'indigenous to the greater part of the northern hemisphere'.[34] In consequence of this wide range they must of necessity frequent many districts highly favourable to their preservation; they are therefore numerous. Equally well adapted for travelling by sea and through the air, and capable of enduring great variations of heat and cold, their presence may be expected wherever a tract of country occurs calculated to supply them with food and opportunities for nidification. As long as England abounded in marshes, and her rivers ran through wastes rarely frequented by man, Wild Ducks were numerous in many counties where they are now but rarely seen. Many have retired before draining and civilization, yet they never totally desert us. In most districts where there are rivers lined with reeds, even not so very far removed from the sound of the steam-engine, one may, by cautiously and quietly guiding one's steps, fall in with a brood of active ducklings sifting the ooze, with the instinct of their kind, for minute insects; flapping along the water in chase of a fly, or paddling among the reeds on the look-out for anything good to eat. The matron of the party, with a proud consciousness of her dignity as sentinel and protector, preserves a more stately demeanour, but, with this slight difference, is similarly occupied. As you approach she is the first to descry you; with a homely 'quack', differing in no respect from the note of the domesticated bird, she sounds an alarm, and the whole family, mother and children, are quickly concealed among the reeds. It is possible, by long-continued persecution, to induce her to rise, but she does so reluctantly, and even then, unless you are such a barbarian as to shoot her, all is yet safe. The young will hide themselves securely until danger is past, and she, not far off, though unseen, is circling round her helpless brood. In an islet, probably, of the river; in a tuft of reeds surrounded by quagmire; among thick bushes near the bank; under the stump of an alder, or even high up among the branches, she formerly had her nest, composed of grass, and lined with down from her own breast; and at no great distance from this her offspring are yet lingering. The latter could swim immediately that they left the egg, but their bodies are large and heavy in proportion to the size of their wings, so that they will be unable to fly until nine or ten weeks old, when they will be thoroughly fledged, and only distinguishable from their parent by their smaller size.

From the rapidity with which young Ducks 'scutter' along the surface of the water, using both feet and wings, they are called by sportsmen, 'flappers'; and from the same habit, no doubt, the children's game of 'Ducks-and-drakes' was named. The word is one with which I have been familiar, like most other people, from my earliest years, yet I never thought of its etymology until I was passing, a few weeks since, in a steamer down Loch Tarbet. The boat disturbed a party of 'flappers' which were feeding near the shore, and as they half flew, half paddled away at a rapid rate, the sport and the name suggested themselves to my mind together. It is mostly absent from the northern districts of Scotland in winter.

In marshy districts, both in England and Scotland, these birds remain all the year round; but their numbers are greatly augmented in winter by the arrival of large flocks from the north. These fly mostly by night, in long lines, and proceed to the fens and salt marshes, where they feed until daylight. They then put out to sea, and rest, floating on the water, until dusk; and it is while they are on their way to and from these feeding-grounds that the sea-side gunners do the greatest execution among them. They fly mostly in small parties, and utter no note; but if after dusk a shot be fired in the vicinity of a marsh or of a piece of reclaimed land intersected by ditches, it is followed by a concert of 'quacks' from all sides, which proves that however small the parties may have been, the number of Ducks collectively must be very great.

In the neighbourhood of the salt marshes in the eastern counties, one may meet, in severe winter weather, just before dusk, little knots of men setting out on ducking expeditions. Each is furnished with a spade, a bag of straw, and a gun. Experience has taught these men that the line of flight usually taken by the birds is along a narrow creek or arm of the sea, which has on either side a high muddy bank. For such a point the gunners are making. The use of the spade is to dig a hole for concealment in the mud, and the straw is intended to furnish a dry seat. It must be a wearisome occupation to sit here hour after hour, with nothing to do but to hope that birds are coming; and when they come matters are not much mended; for if the shot be successful it will never do to leave the hiding-place in order to pick up the booty, or another chance may be missed. Three or four hours are thus spent, and on moonlight nights a longer time. The slain birds are then collected, a few hours are given to rest, and in the morning twilight the same scene is re-enacted.

When it is desired to construct a decoy,[35] a quiet, shallow pond is selected, edged with reeds, and having an extent of from two to fifty acres or more. From the edge of this are dug, at various points, curved creeks, called 'pipes', broad at the mouth, and contracting till the banks meet. Over each of these pipes is thrown a net, supported on arches made of hoops; the first about ten feet high, the others diminishing in size, and the whole ending in a bag-net, or 'purse'. On each bank of the pipes are erected screens made of reeds, high enough to conceal a man. Previously to commencing operations the decoy-man has let loose on the pond a few tame Ducks, closely resembling wild birds in plumage, who are familiar with his person and have been trained to come at his call. Accompanied by a little dog, 'a piper', he stations himself behind a screen, near the mouth of a pipe which faces the wind, choosing this position because Ducks prefer to swim against the wind and to feed on a lee shore. When the pond is well stocked with birds he throws some corn on the water near the mouth of a pipe, and makes a low whistle. At the familiar sound the 'coy-ducks' hasten to the spot, and, if all be well, are followed by a portion of the wild birds. The piper is then let loose, and immediately runs to the water's edge. The Wild Ducks, either from curiosity, or some unknown motive, paddle towards him. The ruse succeeding so far, the piper is made to appear for a moment beyond the next screen, and so on until a party of Ducks have been lured so far up the pipe as to be out of sight of those remaining in the pond. The decoy-man, who has all the while been lying hid near the first screen, then shows himself to his intended victims, who, in their flight, hurry on to the 'purse', and are caught and dispatched at leisure. All this time the coy-ducks, if well trained, have remained at the mouth of the pipe, feeding, and unconsciously enticing new-comers into the snare.