Birds in the Moult 



obtaining at different times and places, of hunt- 

 ing the unfortunate birds at this period of their 

 helplessness. According to my observations ) 

 the quills undergo this wholesale shedding in 

 small as well as in large species, in the tiny 

 cotton-teal or pigmy goose of India {Nettopus 

 coromandelianus) as well as in the powerful 

 swan ; so that defence cannot be relied upon in 

 all cases. One member of this family, however, 

 the curious magpie goose of Australia (Ansera- 

 nas me/ano/eucus), moults its quills gradually like 

 most birds ; and as the half-webbed feet and 

 well-developed hind toe of this bird, together 

 with the very slight development of the charac- 

 teristic straining apparatus in the beak, point 

 to its being an ancestral form — a living link 

 between the ducks and their unknown land-bird 

 ancestor — it is probable that the wholesale moult 

 is a late development. In connection with this 

 it is interesting to note that ducks under un- 

 favourable conditions of life — as when in very 

 close confinement, and with clipped wings — will 

 revert to the gradual method of shedding their 

 quills ; a clipped quill is always apt to cause 

 trouble to a bird. The most wholesale moult, 

 and that involving the greatest discomfort, occurs 

 among the penguins. These curious birds, be- 

 fore moulting, become ravenous, and feed up 

 well, but then fast until they are in full plum- 



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