Narrated by Jeffery Boswall

We shoot them, we count them, we study them, we breed them, we conserve them and we watch them. It is the common and often very tame duck of our city parks but it is also the truly wild duck of the quieter and more remote parts of our country. It is the Mallard.

The mallard drake has a flashy but beautiful plumage which he uses to great advantage in his spring displays. The duck is more soberly dressed for the important task of rearing her family of precious ducklings until they are ready to join the autumn flocks. In this film the full year's cycle in the life of the wild duck is revealed in all its intricate detail.

Produced in association with Time-Life Films
(Bristol)
Private Lives, based on previous programmes in the series, £1.75 from bookshops