[ Case 40.] 
[Case 41. ] 
66 BIRD GALLERY. 
breeds in many parts of Great Britain, and has greatly increased since 
the Act for the Preservation of Wild Fowls was passed in 1876. 
A rare and all but extinct form is the Flightless Duck (Nesonetta 
aucklandica) (140), from the Auckland Islands, to the South of New 
Zealand. 
The Pintail (Dafila acuta) (142) and the Gadwall (Chaulelasmus 
streperus) (143) both breed in Great Britain, but are very local; males 
of both these species in “‘eclipse-plumage” resembling that of the female 
are exhibited. 
Next come the Wigeons (Mareca), of which the typical species (M. 
penelope) (145) is one of the commonest British Ducks, while the 
American Wigeon (M. americana) (746) occasionally visits our coasts as 
a stragegler from North America. 
The Sheld-Ducks (Tadorna and Casarca) ave represented by various 
handsome species, but none more strikingly so than the common species 
T. cornuta (150), which is an abundant resident on our coasts. The 
female scarcely differs from the male in plumage, the markings being 
only 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 the genus 
is the remarkable looking Australian form (7. radjah) (161). Of the 
genus Casarca the most familar 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 Dendrocycna includes the Tree-Ducks, mostly birds of chestnut 
or brown plumage. | They are remarkable for their long hind toe, and 
habitually perch on trees, placing their nest, which contains from 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. viduata (154) being found in S. America and the west 
Indies as well as Africa and Madagascar, while D. fulva (153) 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 (Chenalopex egyptiaca) (155). 
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) 
(160) is the only species that breeds in Great Britain, a few pairs 
remaining to nest in the north of Scotland and in the Hebrides. The - 
Pink-footed (767), Bean (758), and White-fronted Geese (759) are all 
regular visitors to our coasts during the colder months, while the Lesser 
White-fronted (Anser erythropus) (169 a), and the Snow-Goose (Chen 
hyperboreus) (161), 2 North American species, sometimes occur in very 
severe weather, The Bernacle-Goose (Branta leucopsis) (168) is another 
