These birds are denominated green geese until they are three or four months old; and, at this immature age, they are held by many persons in great esteem for the table.
Besides the present, there are several other species of goose, which are useful on account of their quills and feathers, and likewise as supplying mankind with food.
184. The WILD DUCK (Anas boschas) is distinguished by the general cinereous colour of its plumage, by having a narrow white mark round the neck, the bill being straight, and the tail feathers of the male curved upward.
The male is called mallard, or drake, and the female has the name of duck.
Wild ducks are very common, in most of the fenny parts of England: they are also found on the continent of Europe, in Asia, and America.
One mode of catching wild ducks, in the fens of Lincolnshire and some other countries, is by what are called decoys. These are ponds, generally formed in marshy situations, and surrounded with wood or reeds, and if possible with both. The wild birds are attracted into nets placed in the ditches of the decoy, by ducks trained for the purpose, and called decoy-birds. The latter fly abroad, but regularly return, for food, to the pond of the decoy, where they mix with tame ducks, which never quit the place. When it is required to catch the wild birds a quantity of hemp-seed is thrown into the ditches. The decoy and tame ducks lead them in search of this, along the ditches, which generally have reed-skreens at certain intervals on each side, to prevent the decoy-man from being seen. And as soon as they have advanced to the part of the ditch over which the net is extended, the man appears behind. Fearful of returning past him, and unable to escape by flight, they proceed onward to the end of the net, which terminates on the land, and are there caught by a man stationed for the purpose. The trained birds return back, past the decoy-man, into the pond again. The general season for catching wild ducks is from the latter end of October until the beginning of February; and we are informed that, in ten decoys which are near Wainfleet, as many as 31,200 wild ducks, wigeon, teal, and other water fowl, were caught in a single season.
These birds are the original to which we are indebted for our valuable breed, the common or tame duck.
185. The TEAL and WIGEON (Anas crecca and penelope) are two small species of duck, of which the former has a green spot on each wing, and a white line about and beneath the eyes; and the latter has the tail somewhat pointed, the under part near the tail black, the head brown, the front white, and the back waved with ash-coloured and blackish marks.
Both these species are common in England, and are killed for the table.
186. The EIDER DUCK (Anas mollissima, Fig. 48) is about twice the size of the common duck, and known by its bill being cylindric, and the cere or naked skin at the base being divided into two parts at the back, and wrinkled.