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.