E33



has been not unfrequently sent home, and it lives well at our

Zoo here. It is a ground-builder, and lays round eggs something

like billiard balls ; I have always considered it more curious

than truly beautiful, but it always attracts notice, and is well

worth attention on the part of anyone who can get hold of it.


The Bronze-Cap (.Eunetla falcata ).


This bird is very often dubbed a Teal, but it is really too

big to fairly claim the title, being as large as the well-known

Gadwall. Indeed, the females of the two birds are so much alike

that it is as well to mention their points of difference explicitly.

The female Gadwall, then, has more or less orange on the bill

and feet, and a white bar on the wing, while the Bronze-Cap

female has an entirely black bill, grey feet, and a black wing-bar.


The Bronze-Cap drake is a most beautiful bird, and would

be preferred by many people to the gorgeous Mandarin himself,

though personally I do not think any species can compare with

him, as he has character as well as beauty.


The Bronze-Cap, however, is very lovely, with his silky

copper-and-green head and mane, white neck, and body

exquisitely pencilled with black and white lines, the whole set

off by the long curved sickles formed by the innermost or

tertiary quills of the wing. The tail-coverts are also peculiar,

being so long that they reach to the end of the tail, giving the

bird a rather stump-ended appearance; but their colouring

makes some amends, the lower ones being rich cream-coloured

and black. The wing-sickles are black laced with grey, and are

the last parts of the full plumage to make their appearance.


The Bronze-Cap properly inhabits Eastern Asia, and was

scarce and dear when Miss Hubbard wrote on Ornamental

Waterfowl, and still remains so. 1 have never seen it in the

London Zoo. Of late years, however, it has turned up pretty

frequently at the Calcutta market, having been less uncommon in

India than it was, so that I am in hopes, if the invasion continues,

that some consignments may reach Europe hence. I know that

a pair I got for my friend, Mr. W. Rutledge, were sold to go

home and that the drake arrived safely. But as a rule drakes are

hard to get, and almost all I have got lately have been ducks. I

gave Mr. Fawns four the other day, and if an}' of these come

on the market I should advise duck-keepers to try crossing one

with a Gadwall drake. The hybrid would probably be fertile,

and the pure stock could be secured by breeding back, as was

formerly done with the Amherst and Golden Pheasants.



