Of! BIRD f^ALLEllV. 



breeds in aiauy parts of (ircat Britain, and lias greatly iuercased since 

 the Act for the Preservation of Wild Fowl was passed in 187G. 



A rare and all bnt extinct form is the Flightless Duck [Nesonclta 

 avckhnKliai) (740), from the Auckland Islands, to the south of New- 

 Zealand. 



The Pintail {Dafihi aruta) (742) and the Gadwall (Chuuklusnius 

 strepsrus) (743), both breed in Great Britain, but are very local ; males 

 of both these si)ecies in eclipse j)lumage resembling that of the female 

 are exhibited. 



Next come the Wigeons [Mareca), of which the typical species [M. 

 penelopc) (745) is one of the commonest British Ducks, while the 

 iVmericau Wigeon [M.amer'icana) (746) occasionally visits our coasts as 

 a straggler from North America. 

 [Case 40.] The Sheld-Ducks [Ttulonia and Casurcu) are represented by various 

 handsome species, but none more strikingly so than the common species 

 T. coriuita (750), which is an abundant resident on our coasts. The 

 female scarcely differs from the male in plumage, the markings being 

 oidv rather paler and less defined. This species has a curious habit of 

 breeding in burrows, which it either excavates for itself or appropriates 

 from other burrowing animals. The only other member of tlie genus 

 is the I'emarkable looking Australian form [T. radjali) (751). Of the 

 genus Casarca the most familiar is the Ruddy Sheld-Duck {C. rutila) 

 (748), which occasionally visits our coasts in considerable numbers and 

 is frequently kept on ornamental pieces of water. The inter-tropical 

 genus Dcndrocycna includes the Tree Ducks, mostly birds of chestnut 

 or brown plumage. Tiiey are remarkable for their long hind toe, and 

 habitually perch on trees, placing their nest, which contains six to 

 twelve eggs, in a hollow tree, on a stump, or in long grass. The 

 geographical distribution of some of the species of Tree Duck is very 

 remarkable, D. riduatu (754) being found in S. America and the West 

 Indies as well as Africa and Madagascar, while D. fulva (753) ranges 

 from the United States and S. America across Africa and Madagascar 

 to India and Burma. The last species in this Case is the Egyptian 

 Goose (Chenahpeiv (pgyptiaca) (755). 

 fCase 41.1 Commencing at the foot of the next Case we come to the " Grey " 

 Geese belonging to the genus Anser. Of these the Grey Lag [A.ferus] 

 (760) is the only species that breeds iu Great Britain, a few pairs 

 remaining to nest in the north of Scotland and in the Hebrides. The 

 Pink-footed (757), Bean (758), and White-fronted Geese (759) are all 

 regular visitors to our coasts during the colder months, while the Snow 

 Goose [Chen hyperboreus) (761), a North American species, sometimes 

 occurs in very severe weather. The Bernacle Goose [Branta leucopsis) 

 (763) is another regular winter visitor, being more numerous along our 



