296 A VES-ORDER ANSERIFORMES. 



Islands. Mr. Hudson describes C. inornata, the Barred Upland Goose, as 

 migrating northwards along the eastern coast of Argentina in April and May. 

 * Their great camping-grounds," he writes, "are the valleys of the rivers 

 Negro and Colorado, where they are often so numerous as to denude the low- 

 grounds of the tender winter clovers and grasses, and to cause serious loss 

 to the sheep-breeders. They also visit the cultivated fields to devour the 

 young wheat, and are intelligent enough to distinguish between a real human 

 enemy and the ragged men of straw, miscalled scarecrows, set up by the 

 farmers to frighten them. While committing their depredations they are 

 exceedingly wary and difficult to shoot ; but at night, when they congregate 

 by the waterside, they give the sportsman a better chance. They are social 

 birds, always going in large fiocks, and are very loquacious, the female 

 having a deep, hanking note, while the male responds with a clear whistling, 

 like that of the Sanderling etherialised." 



No less than nineteen genera are admitted by Count Salvador! as belonging 



to this sub-family. Among them are the Tree-Ducks (Dendrocygna), the 



Sheld-ducks (Tadorna and Casarca), the Wild Ducks 



The True Ducks. (Anas), the Wigeons (Mareca), the Teal (Nettion and 



Sub-family Querquedida), the Pin-tails (Dafila) and the Shovelers 



Anatina. (Spatula), besides many less-known forms of Duck. 



The ways of the Ducks are all very similar, and there is 



not much to say in detail about their habits, beyond the fact that some are 



frequenters of inland waters, while others are more maritime in their 



haunts. 



The Sheld-ducks are very handsome birds, of varied plumage, and with a 

 metallic patch or speculum in the wings. This is a character which is found 

 in most of the Ducks, and many species are determined by the colour of the 

 wing-speculum. Another curious feature of the Ducks is that, after the 

 young are hatched, the males put off their bright plumage and assume a 

 dull-coloured brown dress like that of the hen birds. This plumage is very 

 difficult to determine, as the male birds during the moult are practically 

 helpless, and have no quills to fly with, so that they retire into privacy, and 

 very few specimens are procured at this stage of a Duck's existence. I am 

 unable to say from direct observation whether this hen-like summer plumage, 



which only lasts a few weeks, is assumed 

 by all Ducks ; but I have reason to sus- 

 pect that there are few species which do 

 not possess such a stage. 



The beautiful Sheld-duck is a bur- 

 rower, sometimes having its nest as far 

 as 5 ft. from the mouth of the hole, 

 while it has been known to penetrate 

 as far as 12 ft. into the earth. These 

 holes are often burrowed by the birds 

 themselves, but quite as frequently a 

 rabbit-burrow is made use of. The 

 Fig. 52. THK COMMON SHELD-DUCK Sheld-duck often builds upon cliffs at 



(Tadorna tadorna). suc h a height that it is evident the 



parent bird must carry the young ones 



down to the water, as must be the case also with the Common Mallard 

 when it builds its nest in a tree, as it often does. 



Of these Ducks there are four sub - families, all with the hind toe 



