one paragraph I must make exception. I allude to that at p. 168, where, in the imaginative strain of Buffon, the "unnatural barbarism" of a male is protested against as caring nothing for his progeny. Surely it is, instead, natural, and agreeable to the instinct with which the bird has been endowed, that the male leaves the whole charge of the young to the female. As a difference of opinion has existed on this subject, it may be stated, in the words of Mr. Selby, that "the care of the young devolves entirely upon the duck, and is not partaken by the male as Wilson and others appear to think; and this fact," he observes, "I have had frequent opportunities of verifying" (p. 308). According to the observation of Mr. Wm. Sinclaire, at his pond at the Falls, where several of this species were always kept, the mallards never sat upon the eggs, and were not only pugnaciously disposed towards each other in spring, but annoyed the ducks by their pertinacious pursuit, sometimes even causing them to leave their nests. A nest here, in 1845, was made on the ground in an open meadow, and contained eleven eggs. On being visited several times in the absence of the duck, the eggs were always concealed from view, by having been covered over with mosses.

A gentleman informs me that once when in Kensington Gardens, London, he had seen a person throw a stone at a brood of wild ducks that wounded one of them, when, to his surprise, the mother, on perceiving her young one hurt, rushed at and pecked it so violently as in a few minutes to deprive it of life. He saw an almost similar instance in St. James's Park, but the young was able to make a better fight, and when attacked by its mother, it, after a slight struggle, succeeded in freeing itself. A trivial incident of an opposite kind was thus noticed in Mr. Templeton's journal :—August 21, 1819. I was delighted, to-day, with seeing an instance of thought and affection in a duck. One of her young ones having fallen on its back in a dish of meat, the mother uttered a scream and ran to its assistance, and lifting it gently in her bill, placed it on its feet." In the amiable light of a peacemaker-as separating two fighting redbreasts-a duck will be found noticed in the first volume of this work (p. 166).

Mr. Selby, who gives a full and good account of the species under consideration, has remarked that, "in a natural state, wild ducks always pair, though in a state of domestication they are observed to be polygamous. This pairing takes place towards the end of February or beginning of March, and they continue associated till the female begins to sit, when the male deserts her, joining others of his own sex similarly situated; so that it is usual to see the mallards, after May, in small flocks by themselves" (p. 307). This subject has been touched on in Mc Skimmin's 'History of Carrickfergus.' It is there said of wild ducks:"Often shot during winter at Loughmorne; and until a few years ago some pairs bred in the most remote bogs of this parish. Their eggs have been hatched under hens, and the young thus domesticated; but they have been observed to be always shy, and easily alarmed on the least noise; and in the spring, the drake has been remarked to attach himself wholly to one duck for that season. With respect to the "wild" habits of the young birds, I may state that, although of correct general application, it is not universal. Large broods of young wild ducks, captured when half grown, about Lough Neagh, have become quite tame; and until spring, when they were disposed of, remained, except when taking occasional flights, with the domestic birds of their own species about the house where they were fed.

Adult birds of both sexes may occasionally be seen flocked together in summer. On the 15th June, 1833, I remarked a number of them so about Ram's Island, and the neighbouring parts of Lough Neagh; and on the 15th May, 1834, observed thirteen thus associated on the beach of this lake.

On

the 21st June, 1832, I met with a small number of old birds of both sexes together on an islet in Strangford Lough. Birds thus seen had probably not bred.

In winter the males sometimes keep together in immense flocks. This was particularly remarked by Mr. Wm. Sinclaire and myself in the month of January 1824, during severe frost with much snow and sleet, when they came far up Belfast Bay, close to Thomson's embankment. The water was literally covered with

multitudes of them, and "beautiful exceedingly" they looked, without a single dull-plumaged female among them.

Belfast Bay. My few notes of the early and late appearance of the species here are:-In the middle of August 1832, a few were seen, and also at the end of the same month in 1839 : on the 23rd of August, 1840, a flock of twenty-eight appeared on wing, proceeding in a southerly direction, and were supposed to be on migration. So late as April 7 (1838), a flock of about thirty was seen. They sometimes frequent rocky islets in great numbers late in autumn and in winter: on the 7th December, 1833, in particular, I remarked them in the afternoon, between two and three o'clock (three hours before high-water), covering over such islets off Rockport. They probably resort thither as the only safe places of refuge on land, when tired of the water. They looked like Grallatores (see Curlew, Vol. II.) awaiting the falling of the tide and consequent uncovering of their feeding banks.† The period already noticed, when so many mallards appeared in this bay, was in very severe weather; but in the mild winters of 1843-44 and 1844-45, both ducks and mallards associated together (they do not mix much with other species) were very

* At Ballydrain lake a greater number were observed about the same date in 1849. On the 31st March, 1843, the wild ducks from the lake at Lurgan House, county of Armagh, had not betaken themselves to their breeding haunts, as numbers of them (many more than would breed there) sprang in pairs as we walked around its banks.

"Two small islands on the south coast of the county of Wexford, called the Keroes, about a mile from the shore, are, in the winter season, the daily resort of immense flocks of Anatide. These birds lie on and around the islands during the day, and at nightfall resort to the mainland, over which they spread themselves in all suitable localities. On these flights they fly at a considerable height, and are frequently shot by fowlers, who wait for them on hill-tops which lie in their course. They arrive at the islands about the first grey of the morning, and remain in the vicinity during the day. If the weather be very fine, and the sea calm, they lie much of the day on the water and between the islands. Duck, teal, and wigeon form the bulk of these flocks. The first that arrive in the morning are most vigilant, and least easily approached. A small salt-water pond among the rocks is nearly exclusively occupied by teal, which often lie on it in numbers.

"I observed a common tame duck, while washing and cleaning its feathers, frequently sipping up a little water at intervals, as if for the purpose of assisting in the operation, possibly by diluting the fluid of its gland. When it had moistened its bill with a fresh supply of water, it took the feathers separately, and drew them through that organ, champing them diligently until it had brought them to a satisfactory condition."-Mr. Joseph Poole.

plentiful. Early in the winter of 1842-43, they were likewise so, and were seen coming in immense numbers every evening from some inland lakes, to feed in the bay during the night." First, a few small flocks appeared, then as many in broken parties as would cover the fourth of a square mile, and, lastly, the rear was brought up like the advanced posts, by a few small flocks. In mid-winter they disappeared; but in the severe weather beginning in February, they were again most abundant-all other species of ducks were scarce here that season. At the breaking up of a frost, it is very interesting to walk along the shores of the bay, and witness the ever-varying flights of the Anatida. Among others, little flocks of wild ducks are so restless, as to be constantly getting up from some quarter or other, and sweeping through the air.

I have remarked at the Falls ponds, how much these birds suffered from frost, after it had been very intense for a few nights, and the ground had been covered with snow. Several of them, after walking two or three yards, would sit down, and, evidently from the coldness of their legs and feet, draw them up into their plumage. When warmed in this way, they would start again on foot, but not go farther than before without sitting down and playing a similar part I witnessed this frequently, and, though pitying the poor ducks, could not but be amused at the very slow progress which they made. Birds wholly wild, would probably have taken flight instead of walking. Those alluded to, which had the use of their wings, were content to remain on the ponds (some of which are small) during the day, but in the evening often flew to the neighbouring feeding-grounds of the wild individuals of their species, where they were sometimes killed by fowlers.

I had annually, at the Falls, the opportunity of observing the singular change of plumage which takes place in the mallard early in summer, when, losing his brilliant colours and markings, he becomes similar in garb to the duck. This change, which has long been known to take place, is very particularly and agreeably described by Mr. Waterton. Not only the mallard,

but the old male wigeon and male pintails here changed in like manner, yielding up all the beautiful characteristic colours and markings of their sex (except that the white patch on the wigeon's wing remained unchanged), to assume the dull hue of the females of their respective species, from which they differed only in the colours being of a darker shade-at the ordinary autumnal moult they all again assumed their proper male attire. Towards the end of May, the mallards' masque commenced; and by the middle or end of September, they were themselves again.

Having frequently mentioned Anatidae kept on the ponds at the Falls, near Belfast, by Mr. Sinclaire, it may be desirable to notice all the species which were there at one period; viz. :Bewick's swan.

Brent goose.

Bernacle.

Mallard.

Shelldrake.

Wigeon.

Teal.

Scaup.

Tufted duck.

Pochard.

Summer duck of North America, Dendronessa sponsa.

The above were kept on an enclosed pond. There were at large the

Tame swan.

Canada goose.

Egyptian goose.

Once, when walking round the aquatic menagerie in the middle of June, I remarked that nearly all the plants of Equisetum fluviatile or Telmateia (of which there were many) had been divested of their branches by these birds, though, excepting grass, they had not eaten of any other of the numerous plants growing within the enclosure.

The following is extracted from the journal of the late Mr. Templeton:

:

"In the spring of 1807, I received, from John Sinclaire, Esq.,