156 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology. 



side, and a white wing-speculum. The male is the lighter colored 

 of the two, and has a lighter head. 



The bill in both sexes when adult is orange-yellow " 



Among many hundreds of these ducks seen in the Falklands, all, 

 ex'cept perhaps in size (Mr. Blaauw gives no measiu'ements) answer 

 absolutely his description of what he diagnoses as T. pafarhonims. 

 No birds of dark plumage, the females, even had yellow bills, and no 

 females were seen in anythmg that covdd possibly be referred to as a 

 gray plumage. And out of many hundreds seen none took flight, 

 although I do not doubt for an instant that a small percentage can fly. 



This duck like so many other birds in these islands is very tame, 

 especially in the harbor of Port Stanley. 



They are quite curious, often swinuning near if one sits quietly on 

 the beach. If anything disturbs a flock others will swim up to see 

 what caused the commotion. 



The call of the female is a hoarse, rasping sound that can be heard 

 a considerable distance. The male's thin, wheezy " Kee-u-kce-u- 

 kee-u" sounds more like a sneeze than anything else. 



Like the penguins they can go through the most heavy surf, but 

 often harder work is made of it. 



Nesting begins early in October, the nest being placed in grass, 

 ferns, or "Diddle-dee" l)ushes, as far as half a mile from the sea. 



The first downy young were noted on November Ki, and from this 

 date until December 20, new broods were seen, the largest containing 

 seven. At this time the parents are very wary and at the distant 

 approach of man swim a long distance from shore with the brood. 

 The young inunedi;itely upoij hatching are able to dive and swim 

 well under water. 



Adults are fond of feeding in shoal water along the stony beaches, 

 where they dip like "river ducks." They make an unusual amount 

 of noise when diving, and on a still e\ening the splashes suggest the 

 rising of trout in some northern "still-water." 



Their food includes all manner of small marine animal life. A 

 single stomach dissected contained limpets, small chitons, mussels, 

 various gasteropods and bivalves, shrimps, and two species of crabs, 

 the carapace of the larger being two inches long by one inch wide 

 whicli with its legs must have been a large object to swallow. 



The weight of Loggerhead Ducks has been greatly exaggerated by 

 old writers. Captain Cook claimed that they weighed twenty-nine 

 or thirty pounds. Coppinger in the cruise of the Alert, 1883, found 

 fourteen pounds to be the heaviest. This is reasonable although my 



