ASARCORNIS SCUTULATA 49 



Some tiny whistling-teal shared theiu captivity, and were always 

 treated with consideration and allowed their share of food, etc. As 

 already said, they very soon become tame, and within a few weeks 

 they were all tame enough to accept food from the hands of those 

 they knew well ; but generally when strangers appeared they retired 

 to their inner room. When not feeding, they almost invariably sat 

 on the perches and not on the ground, and they showed considerable 

 activity in turning about on them ; at the same time they kept their 

 position almost entirely by balance and not grasp, as anything 

 touching them at once upset them. 



Their trumpet-call was very seldom heard when caged, but about 

 April and May they were sometimes heard calling at early dawn, and 

 even more rarely at sunset. 



This duck commences its moult in September or early October, 

 and this once commenced is extremely rapid ; the quills — both 

 rectrices and fiight-quills — come away altogether, and the bird is 

 incapable of rising more than a foot or so from the ground for about 

 a fortnight, by which time the wing-quills are sufficiently advanced 

 to enable them to flutter from one perch to another, or, in exceptional 

 cases, to take short flights. The soft feathers come after the quills, 

 though a few new breast and back feathers may sometimes show even 

 before the quills fall. 



The contrast between the glossy new and the dull blackish old 

 feathers is very great, and one can hardly believe that it is the same 

 bird. The natives say that, prior to the moulting, these ducks all 

 retire to morasses lying in absolutely impenetrable forest and cane- 

 brake, and there remain until they are once more able to fly. 



