THE TRUE DUCKS. 



257 



have eggs before May, and they do not breed until they are 

 two or more years old. 



Nest. A large structure of dead reeds and grass, sometimes 

 more than two feet high and five feet across. 



Eggs. Three to five in number, but more are often found, 

 and sometimes as many as ten or twelve have been recorded. 

 They are greenish-white, and measure : Axis, 4*3-4*65 inches ; 

 diam., 2 '8-3*1. 



THE TRUE DUCKS. SUB-FAMILY ANATIN^E. 



All the members of this Sub-family have, according to Count 

 Salvadori, the hind-toe very narrowly lobed. There is in nearly 

 every species a "speculum" of metallic colour on the wing, 

 and the males have a bony swelling, or " bulla ossea," on the 

 trachea. The bill is rather flat and broad in the true Ducks, 

 and distinguishes them from the Chenonettince^ or Goose-like 

 Ducks, which inhabit the Southern Hemisphere. 



The Egyptian Goose, as it is called, (Chenalopex cegyptiacd), is 

 considered by Count Salvador! to belong to the present Sub- 

 family. It is a species which has long been kept in confinement, 

 and the many examples which have been shot in a wild state 

 are doubtless individuals which have escaped. The same may 

 be said of the Summer Duck (/Ex. sponsd) and the Muscovy 

 Duck (Cairina moschata). The changes of plumage through 

 which most of the Ducks pass is very curious, and there are at 

 least six of these. After the young have acquired their first 

 plumage, both sexes resemble the old female. In the first 

 year they are like the adults, but differ somewhat from both ; 

 then the male has a separate plumage from the female in the 

 fully adult stage, and lastly there is the post-nupital dress of the 

 male, when he retires into a sober-coloured plumage like that 

 of his wife. This is when he is about to moult his quills, and 

 at this season the males keep mostly apart from the females. 

 Mr. De Winton writes to me : "All the Ducks take on the 

 characteristic ' adult ' plumage in the first year, but this is far 

 from perfect, and though they may breed, I believe that it takes 

 quite four years before a Duck arrives at the perfection of 

 plumage. The full dress is scarcely complete by Christmas, 



