THE


Hvtcultural ilfcagastiic,


BEING THE JOURNAL OF THE


AVICULTURAL SOCIETY.



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SOME OUT-OF-THE-WAY DUCKS.


By Frank Finn, F.Z.S.


I have already treated of the best-known species of the

Duck family in my series on Fancy Waterfowl in the “ Feathered

World ” of last year-which, by the way, is now available in

book form and as Mr. Seth-Smith has complained in a recent

number of our Magazine of the paucity of articles on these birds

I am emboldened to offer a few remarks on some species which

are very little known as yet, but of which I have been fortunate

in having personal experience. Of these the most generally

attractive and deserving of importation is


Ihr Cotton Teal (Nettopus coromatidelianus).


This most charming little creature is often known as the

Pigmy Goose or Goose-Teal, but wrongly so, as neither in its

plumage or in its habits does it display any affinity to the true

Geese; and, although its bill is strikingly like that of a Goose

in miniature, its general build is very different, the neck wiims

and legs being short, and the tail long and rounded. It is almost

the smallest of all ducks, being less than an ordinary Pio- e on

but it is nevertheless remarkably showy. That is to say° the

drake is, his plumage being mostly white, with wings of a dark

metallic green marked with a big white patch on the flights- a

black cap necklace and tail, and flanks delicately pencilled with

fine black lines. His bill is black, feet olive-yellow with black

webs, and eyes ruby red. The duck is dark brown where the

drake is black or green, and has no black necklace or white

wing-patch ; her flanks are plain drab, and her neck is pencilled

with brown There is also a dark brown streak passing alono-

the side of the head through the eye, which gives her a

particularly pretty and innocent expression. Her bill is

yellowish brown, and her feet duller than the drake’s, while her

eyes are brown also. Young birds resemble her, and so does



