arrival, the Wild Ducks begin to choose their mates, the selection of course involving many a battle between the rival males; but their partners do not need to be won by a prolonged courtship. Their habit of associating in large flocks is at once laid aside, and they attach themselves to their spouses with ardent devotion. The place selected for the nest is generally some quiet, retired, dry spot under a bush or concealed by herbage, and very generally near the water, but sometimes at a considerable distance from it. Occasionally and, indeed, not unfrequently, they will take possession of some nest placed in a tree--such, for example, as that of a Crow. Their proper nest is constructed of the stems and leaves of various plants, loosely put together, so as to present internally a rounded cavity, which at a subsequent period is warmly lined with down and feathers. The brood consists of from eight to sixteen eggs, of a somewhat elongated shape, hard, smooth-shelled, and of a greyish white colour; in fact, exactly similar to those of the domesticated Duck. The period of incubation, during which the female, who alone broods, sits with the greatest patience and self-devotion, extends over from twenty to twenty-eight days. The newly-hatched young ones remain perhaps for a single day in the nest, and are then taken to the water. Those that are born in a nest placed at a considerable elevation simply spring out and fall upon the ground, without receiving the slightest injury. It is quite a mistake to say, as some writers have done, that they are carried down by their mother in her beak. During the first few days of their lives they endeavour to conceal themselves as much as possible among the reeds and water-plants; and it is only when their wings have to be tried that they venture to show themselves in open water. Meanwhile the mother takes the greatest pains to conceal them from observation. In case of danger she makes every endeavour to draw it upon herself, or if the assailants are such as to make it at all practicable, she flies at them with the utmost fury, and uses every effort to drive them away. The young brood follow her with every demonstration of affection; they watch her slightest warning, listen to every sound she utters, and when bidden, at once hide themselves among weeds or sink down between the inequalities of the ground. Their growth is exceedingly rapid, so that in about six weeks they are able to fly. [Illustration: THE WILD DUCK (_Anas boschas_).]