Appendix 409 



resemble those of mallards, consisting of twigs with a few feathers placed on 

 the mud, and easily seen through the open clump of samphire which shelters 

 them.^ 



Mallard (Anas boschus), in the marisma, nest in precisely similar situations, 

 but their eggs number twelve or fourteen. Elsewhere their nests (being among 

 bush or reedbeds) are less easily seen. 



WiGEON (Mareca 2}enelope) never breed, though chance birds (and some 

 greylags also) remain every summer — possil)ly wounded. 



Gadwall (Anas strepera) do not nest in the open marisma, but many pairs 

 retire to the rush-fringed inland lagoons, such as Zopiton and Santolalla. They 

 lay nine to tw^elve eggs about mid-]\Iay, usuallj^ at a short distance from the 

 water. 



Teal (Nettion crecca) remain quite exceptionally. Even in that wet spring, 

 1908, only a single nest w^as found. There Avere eight eggs laid on bare mud, 

 with hardly any nest, beneath a samphire bush. Though quite fresh, and 

 placed at once under a hen, these eggs did not hatch. 



Garganey (Querquedula circia) breed among the samphire in the open 

 marisma — in wet seasons quite numerously. Seven young, caught newly 

 hatched in 1908 and kept alive at Jerez, showed no distinctive sexual colora- 

 tion all that autumn or up to February 1909. Early in March three drakes 

 became distinguishable, the most advanced being complete in feather by the 

 15th, and all three perfect by April 1. 



Young pintails, on the other hand, acquire complete sexual dress in the 

 autumn, as mallards do, by November. 



Garganey also nest in large numbers on the lagoons of Daimiel in La 

 Mancha. 



Marbled Duck (Querquedula angustirostris). — This is one of the most 

 abundant of the Spanish -breeding ducks, nesting both in the marisma and 

 along the various channels of the Guadalquivir. Their nests, substantially 

 built of twigs of samphire, dead reeds, and grass, lined with down, are 

 carefully concealed among covert, usually on dry ground. Some arc approached 

 by a sort of tunnel. Exceptionally we have seen a nest built a foot high in 

 the branches of a samphire bush with a clear space beneath, and overhanging 

 shallow water. The eggs, laid at the end of May, vary from twelve to fourteen, 

 and in one instance twenty — possibly the produce of two females. AVe find 

 these the most difficult of all the ducks to rear in confinement. Probably 

 their food is quite different, anyway they are very bad eating. 



Mai'bled ducks are unknown at Daimiel. 



Shovelers (Spatula clypeata) only breed exceptionally and in wet seasons ; 

 we found one nest at Las Nuevas in 1908. Though abundant in winter, does 

 not breed at Daimiel. 



Ferruginous Ducks {Fuligida nyroca), like all the diving tribe, l)reed only 

 on deep and permanent lakes, such as those of Medina and Daimiel, where 

 they abound all summer. None nest in the marisma, which in summer is 

 largely dry. Nests, mid-May ; eggs, nine or ten. 



1 In Jutland we found some pintails' nests rather cunningly concealed in holes upon open 

 grassy islets in marine lagoons not unlike our Spanish marismas ; others were on bare 

 ground, though occasionally hidden among thistles. Here also the eggs numbered eight or 

 nine. See Ibis, 1894, p. 349. 



