A query about some young wild duck on a London
reservoir has been answered, though not perhaps convincingly, by several correspondents. They say that young mallards, like moorhen, will dive and remain submerged with only the beak extrud- ing from the water. It is surely a rare device in very young duck ; and in any case could they so completely vanish that their knowing parents could not find them ? There are at this moment fourteen young mallard frequenting a piece of water in my garden. They frequently vanish into the herbage by the bank, but never show any sign of diving from sight. In other years we have caught up young duck and kept them awhile before returning them to the stream. What has most astonished us has been the promptitude of the discovery of the missing brood by the anxious parent.
W. BEACH THOMAS.
Previous page
