Ducks. Wc hid ourselves at the farthermost point of the creek,
overlooking a long strip of open water running down the
centre of it, and at the same time facing in the direction of
the setting sun, so that in the short eastern twilight we might
see the Wild Fowl more clearly as they flew betvveccn us and
the sky, where the last gleam of day still lingered. Presently
they would begin to arrive, and if luck favored us, a goodly
flight, after circling around, would prepare to pitch, though not
on this occasion to feed, for it was a case of ' first come first
served,' and the breech-loader was brought into play. Then
the scared Wild Ducks would make off, leaving perhaps one or
two of their number behind ; but hardly are the fresh cartridges
dropped into the barrels when another flight appears on the
horizon, to meet with a similar reception ; and so the sport
continues for perhaps half an hour, when it becomes too dark
to sec to shoot longer. I have on three or four occasions, in a
short space of time, shot over twenty Ducks and Teals in this
manner ; and one evening, a friend and I, assisted by the light
of a brilliant moon, bagged thirty-eight Ducks, besides losing at
least half a score more in the darkness."
I must add that to an old Norfolk flight shooter, the best
part of the sport commences, when Captain Baldwin and his
friends left off, i.e., when in cold cloudy weather, such as we
often have about X'mas, it gets pitch dark soon after sunset,
and you shoot entirely by the whistle of the wings, and at
most catch, just as you fire, the faintest glimpse of a shadow
flitting across the gloom above. How the gun cracks at such
a time. What a blaze of light it sheds, lightning-like, around for
an instant, and then how pleasant, in the midst of the intense
darkness that succeeds, to hear the one, two, three, heavy thuds or
splashes of the victims, which, in a very few moments, your dogs
will lay at your feet. It is just when it is too dark to see, and
when you have to shoot, judging not only direction and distance,
but rate of flight also by ear, that flight-shooting becomes
a real sport. But then for this you must not be posted on the far
side of thcjhfl where the binls will circle, but some distance on
the near side, at a place where the birds will certainly pass over
with arrowy straightness, if also with arrowy speed. At no time
I think does the sportsman feel a greater sense of elation than
when standing thus in a clump of bushes, a cold wind and
drizzling rain bracing his nerves, he succeeds in making flight
after flight, as they swish past unseen, each steadily contribute
its quota to his bag. But I suspect that to make any hand of
this night work, you must have practised it from childhood, and
even then it is, no doubt, uncertain work. Sometimes you cannot
hit anything, and sometimes, just as at billiards, you get your
hand in, and not a wing can hurtle pass without paying the
penalty.
The quack of the Gadwall is very like that of the Mallard,
but weaker and sharper, and more often uttered. They arc
more talkative birds than either the Grey or Common Wild
Duck, and when feeding in undisturbed localities keep up a
perpetual chattcration, not unlike that in which the Mallard
occasionally indulges, but shriller, feebler, and far more incessant.
They are very sociable birds, and may be found in company
with every description of Water Fowl; even amongst Geese, who
commonly keep all the smaller Ducks at arms length, I have
seen pairs of Gadwall swimming about quite unmolested.
On land it walks extremely well, far more gracefully than
do the Mallard or Grey Duck, and may often be seen trotting
about on tiny smooth grass patches at the margins of broads,
busily devouring grasshoppers, crickets, and (strange though
it may seem, it is the fact) small moths and butterflies.
When wounded and pursued, they dive easily, but are much
more easily tired out and captured than the Grey Duck, or
ci fortiori, any of the Pochards. Altogether they are lighter,
slighter, more agile, more graceful, and withal less robust birds
than those that I class under restricted Anas, and in most respects
are very close to the Teal, differing from these chiefly in
the greater elongation of the lamina; of the bill.
For the table the Gadwall is generaly excellent, especially
early in the cold weather, when, for a month or so, it has been
living chiefly on rice, but occasionally, when vegetable food
has been scarce, they have a rather marshy muddy flavour.
So FAR AS we yet know the Gadwall breeds nowhere within
our limits, but as it breeds in Texas nearly as far south as
Delhi, I cannot help suspecting that it may yet prove to breed
in some of the Kashmir and other comparatively low Himalayan
lakes.
In Turkestan, Central and Southern Europe* and North
America it breeds in May and June. The nest, a large coarse
one of rush and grass, is placed in situations similar to that
of the Grey Duck, as a rule, in clumps of low rush and water
grass, and often under some overhanging bush or reed tuft.
It is lined with finer grass, more or less intermingled with
feathers, and as incubation proceeds in northern localities, a
good deal of down is added; apparently in Southern Europe
there is less of this used.
The number of eggs seems to vary from six to thirteen, but
about ten appears to be the average. The eggs are moderately
broad, and very regular ovals ; the shell smooth, but without much
gloss. In colour they vary from nearly white to a rich creamy
yellow, occasionally with a sjreenish tin™.
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