THE CAROLINA DUCK. 



579 



The 



Carolina 



Duck. 



is a percher or tree duck, often carrying its 

 young to the water when hatched ; and in 

 the crest of the drake, the deep claret of 

 the breast, the pencilled flanks, 

 and the broad black and white 

 shoulder-marks (though single in 

 this case) there are evident signs 

 of some former common origin, the lines of 

 descent being probably connected through 

 Behring's Straits. The wild birds also fly 

 in flocks, though strictly pairing. The 

 drake's head and crest are glossy green and 

 violet, with pure white stripes arranged as in 

 the illustration, the lowest forming a collar ; 

 the upper breast claret, but spotted prettily 

 with white, tlie shoulder being crossed by a 



Carolina Ducks. 



single bar of intense black and one of white ; 

 flanks a yellowish drab finely pencilled with 

 black, and with pure white and black wider 

 pencil marks along the upper margin (there 

 are traces of these latter also in the Man- 

 darin). The under parts are white, the back 

 bronze and green, tail green-black, wings 

 almost glossy black, with a bright blue and 

 green ribbon-mark edged with white. The 

 legs and feet are yellowish red, bill red mar- 

 gined with black, the eyes black in pupil 

 with red irides. The duck has a much 

 smaller crest, carried close, her back is a 

 kind of glossy bronze, which extends more 

 or less over the bird, the sides more of an 

 ashy brown and drab, with spots near the 

 breast. She has a white mark round the 

 eye, which increases in size with age. Her 

 quiet colours have, in spite of differences, great 



resemblance to the Mandarin duck, but she 

 is rather brighter and more glossy. Owing 

 to this resemblance hybrids or crosses some- 

 times occur. 



The Carolina lays about the same as the 

 Mandarin, but the eggs are more of an ivory 

 colour. It generally grows slightly larger 

 than that variety, and tends to increase in 

 size when bred and fed in captivity, and these 

 rather larger birds are usually the best breeders; 

 but beyond reasonable latitude size should 

 not be encouraged. 



The entire family of ducks known as 

 Teals are small and very pretty. The British 

 Common Teal and the Garganey Teal are 

 widely spread and very hardy, 

 The and breed well on any orna- 



Teals. mental water. The Garganey 



{Qiierquediila circid) is the 

 European representative of a group which 

 is characterised by the upper shoulder- 

 coverts of the wings assuming the form 

 of broad pointed hackles. The most 

 beautiful examples of this feature are the 

 Japanese Teal {Q. fonnosa) and the 

 Falcated duck {Q. falcaria). 



The former of these is rare, but has 

 been imported now and then : the first 

 we ever saw were a splendid pair ex- 

 hibited at the Crystal Palace in 1874. 

 ■*' 'In some slight degree these had som.e 

 :V general resemblance to the Mandarins, to 



" -^ which we should place them next in 

 beauty. The top of the drake's head is 

 black or dark grey, below which is a 

 white streak just over the eye. From the 

 eye descends nearly perpendicularly a black 

 stripe, meeting a black patch under the 

 throat, and enclosing a triangular white space 

 in front of the face. Behind this stripe is 

 another of white, behind which and back- 

 wards from the eye is a large crescent of 

 bronze-green, the lower horns of which comi.' 

 forward and nearly meet in front of the 

 breast. The breast is a light purple beauti- 

 fully spotted with black, shading off to white 

 on the under parts. The shoulders and 

 flanks are a beautifully pencilled silver-grey 

 with a broad white stripe or crescent on the 

 shoulder at the same place as that on the 

 Mandarin. The wing-spot is bronze-green, 

 bordered above with brown and below with 

 white. Th2 tail and wings are brownish 

 grey, but the shoulder or upper wing-coverts 

 are long and pointed like hackles, and falling 

 over the wings. These hackle-feathers are 

 black in the centre, edged on one side with 



