DISFIGUREMENT NO BAR 241 



Mr. D. Dewar has observed that white Peacocks 

 in the Lahore Zoo had superior charms to the 

 coloured birds ; while I have seen London park 

 Mallard Ducks not only pair with all-white, grey- 

 breasted, and rufous-flanked drakes in preference 

 to the typical male in its full beauty of colouring, 

 but in one case recently even with a Spotted-bill 

 Drake (Anas 'pcecilorhyncha), which has no distinctive 

 male plumage at all. M. Roger on also says that this 

 Indian species, the African Yellow-bill (A. undulata) 

 and Australian Wild Duck (A. super ciliosa), none 

 of which have any distinct sex-coloration, never- 

 theless interbreed with Mallard as if all were of 

 one species. 



Recently I saw at Kew a Mandarin Drake whose 

 left eye had been destroyed, and whose face on that 

 side was abnormally white, paired with a fine 

 unpinioned female, in spite of the presence of 

 perfect drakes, one at least unpinioned, which I 

 saw her charge with tail wagging defiantly, instead 

 of inciting her mate to do it, as is commonly done 

 by this most affectionate and selective species. 

 Another bird at the Zoo with misplaced wing, spoil- 

 ing his colour-scheme entirely, also has had a mate 

 for years, though Mandarin Ducks, like Mallard, will 

 tolerate bigamy rather than take to a drake they 

 dislike. I have, however, seen a case in the Calcutta 

 Zoo in which a Mandarin Drake of superior plumage 

 was preferred by the ducks to others, though these 

 were not positively defective ; and I have found also 

 in Calcutta a Linnet hen prefer a lame male with a 

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