25 [CiiAi's. A' & YI, 



r.vuAs. \(i Sc 17. 



Marbled Duck (rush covered swamps). 



T''^ Pochard \ j^.^^^i ^f ^^^^^^^_ 



White-eyed Duck ) ^ -^ 



Tdfted Duck (rc({uires cover on banks). 



D.— A'nvV.s of the Somll Wutn^. 

 * Spotbill (likes much high cover). 



Shoveller (often any kind of water, bar rivers ; sticks 

 to the shores). 



CHAPTER VL 



Appearance. 



17, How far is it possible to identify a bird by its deneral 

 general appearance in the air at a distance? Some very J,i fl^jght"*^^ 

 rough general indications are given in Key 4 at the end (Key 4.) 

 of this Chapter. If the most distinctive species are noted 

 and remembered, the less conspicuous will be placed, with 

 practice, later. Reference may be made to the other Keys 

 and paragraphs on Size, Speed and Tricks of Flight but, 

 above all, to that on Birds which show much White. 

 Again, it may be said, it is the black-and-white present- 

 ment that the eye gets at a distance ; colours, no matter 

 how vivid close at hand, are not distinguished a long way 

 off. Some or all of the points given in the Keys, etc., 

 will, it is hoped, stick in the memory and the bird be 

 identified. 



If shape and the presence of much white are to be 

 the main guides, four of the large Duck are fairly un- 

 mistakeable, viz., the Spotbill, with his long neck and 

 uniform grey colour; the Mallard, with his heavy build 

 and (in full plumage) green head and white collar; the 

 Shoveller, with his light build, big, mis-shapen bill and 

 (in full plumage) white breast; and, lastly, the Red-crested 

 Pochard, a bird lightly built for a Pochard, with a crest 

 that makes his head look big, and with white on the 

 wings and flanks. Among the Duck of medium size, the 

 Wigeon has white on the wings and aldomen, while the 

 Tufted Duck, a compact tubby little fellow, has a vivid 

 contrast in his black liead, throat and upper-breast and 

 his whita abdomen and flanks, his wings also being marked 

 with white. Of the small Duck, the White-eye is the 

 most conspicuous. He too is dark i rusty-red) and white 

 contrasted below — head and throat dark and breast white — 

 and he has wliile on his wings. 



As a class, the Diving Ducks are, and look, more 

 heavily built than the True Ducks. 



*Noie. — Found also on rivers. 



