WILD DUCKS. 119 



The golden-eye {Clangula glaucion), so called because of its bright 

 yellow staring eye, is also very common, though it is not often that a 

 male of this species is brought to bag. This is due chiefly to the 

 unusual fact that the ducks greatly outnumber the drakes. Also the 

 drakes are very much ^hj^er, and fly faster than do the ducks. 

 The drake is of a shiny blue-black colour with, a white breast, 

 white-barred wings, and with a white dot on the side of the head. It is 

 somewhat smaller than the mallard. Its beak is short and thick, more 

 like that of a goose, while the body is very flat, the legs seeming to 

 stick out from the sides. The duck is of a brown-black colour, with a 

 brown head and white only on the wings, and under-parts. 

 This species invariably feeds upon certain weeds that grow at the 

 bottoms of ponds or backwaters, and consequently has to dive for its 

 food. It stays under water for minutes at a time, so that, if the fowler 

 can creep up to a flock feeding, he may get shot after shot as those 

 birds under water, unaware of what is happening, come leisurely to the 

 surface for air, and then, taking to their wings, offer excellent marks. 

 In this way a friend and I once got seven birds out of a flock of fifteen. 

 Even when disturbed these ducks will often circle over the pond offering 

 several shots before they leave for some safer locality. The flesh of 

 this bird is very good eating, and is covered with an unusually thick 

 layer of fat. 



The shoveller {SpatuJa clypeata) may readily be recognised by its 

 unusually large and broad beak, from which indeed it derives its name. 

 The male is a very handsome bird with its dark green metallic-lustered 

 head, white breast, red-brown belly and sides, delicate blue-grey wing 

 coverts, green-barred wings and orange legs and eyes. The female is 

 of an uniform mottled brown. The flesh of this species is not very 

 palatable, being of a course oily flavour. 



In the interior Swinhoe's duck {Anas zonorhyncha) is very com- 

 mon, and it is the only duck that breeds so far south as North Shansi, 

 and Chihli. It is of a general brown colour, resembling that of the 

 female mallard. Its breast and lower parts are very much darker, 

 however, while its legs are of a bright orange-red colour, and there is 

 an orange band on the otherwise black beak. It is somewhat larger 

 than the mallard, and has a very much longer neck. Its flesh is 

 excellent. This species is undoubtedly the ancestor of the large brown 

 and white, upright-standing ducks, which, fattened by forced feeding, 

 form so important a dish at a Chinese feast. These birds can only be 

 shot along the rivers and in the marshes of North Shansi and Inner 

 Mongolia, very late in the season, for like the cuckoo they arrive from 

 the south very late, and are off again comparatively early. Round 



