98 On the Occurrence of some of the Rarer Species of Birds 



a flight of Ducks passing over their heads at a great height, they saw 

 what looked to be a perfectly white Duck. He cried out " Let fly 

 at the white owe" and the four barrels were poured against its 

 devoted head ; and, although it seemed altogether out of shot, it 

 began gradually to lower in the air, until it settled some half-mile 

 away in the meadows. The old retriever had marked the bird 

 lowering in the air, and starting off" at once after it, after some time 

 she brought it safely back, when it proved to be a beautiful cream 

 coloured Mallard, having only the green head and the dark speculum 

 on the wing of the normal colour, all the rest being of a rich creamy 

 white. In hard weather I have often seen several hundreds of 

 Ducks on the Broad, by Longford Castle, the air being filled on 

 their rising with clutches of Duck moving in every direction. 

 Most people are aware of the extraordinary double moult which 

 takes place in the plumage of the Drake in the summer months. 

 From about the first week in July until the first week in August 

 the Drake assumes the exact plumage of the Duck, so that you 

 cannot tell it from the female, except that the feathering may be a 

 shade darker. It is just the same with the domestic Drake. I 

 watched the change that took place in a remarkably fine Rouen 

 Drake I had for some years ; and the transformation was so complete 

 that some lady visitors would not believe that it was the identical 

 bird that they had seen in the spring, with its gorgeous green head 

 and purple breast. But it was so ; and how to account, or supply 

 a reason for, the change, seems impossible ; but many a man would 

 be liable to lose a wager by being told that he could not produce a 

 Drake in its ordinary dress in the July month. He certainly would 

 look for it in vain. 



Dafila Acuta. " Pintail.^'' This is another occasional visitant in 

 hard winters. They may be met with yearly in small numbers at 

 the mouth of the Avon in the harbours, the last pair registered 

 by Hart being in November, 1883. There is a nice male bird in 

 the house at Clarendon Park, killed on the water there which they 

 occasionally visit. You cannot well mistake this Duck for any 

 other, on account of its peculiarly elegant and slender neck, and 

 sharp pointed tail — from whence it derives its name. 



