TADORNAjEX 603 



on tender shoots, feeding also on seeds, frogs, worms, and to 

 some extent, is is said, on fish. Unless where unmolested, it is 

 shy and wary. Its note is a peculiar clanging bisyllabic cry 

 frequently uttered. It breeds, often far from the sea, in holes 

 and clefts of the rocks, hollow trees and deserted nests of birds 

 of prey, depositing about the end of May, 12 to 16 eggs which 

 are well bedded in down and resemble those of T. cornuta, but 

 are as a rule a trifle smaller. 



JEX, Boie, 1828. 

 841. MANDARIN DUCK. 

 GALERICULATA. 



galericulata (Linn.), Syst. Nat. i. p. 206 (1766) ; (Seebohm), B. Jap. 

 Emp. p. 248 ; Gould, B. of Asia, vii. pi. 69 ; David and Oust. Ois. 

 Chine, p. 501 ; Salvadori, Cat. B. Br. Mus. xxvii. p. 76 ; Tacz. F. 0. 

 Sib. 0. p. 1127 ; Kidgway, p. 99. 



Oshi-dori, Jap. 



< ad. (China). Forehead green, merging into purple on the crown ; 

 occipital crest coppery red, becoming dark purple and green below ; some of 

 the lateral crest-feathers, region round and behind the eye on the neck, 

 white ; upper parts, wings, and rump glossy olivaceous ; primaries externally 

 greyish white ; short secondaries glossy metallic blue tipped with white, 

 the inner ones falcate on the outer web, glossy blue, the inner web broad 

 fan-shaped, chestnut, margined with velvety blue-black ; chin and throat 

 warm pale rufous, the latter with white stripes, the feathers much 

 elongated ; upper breast and its sides purplish blue, the latter tipped with 

 white ; rest of under parts white, the flanks warm rufous finely vermiculated 

 with black ; tarsus and toes reddish yellow, the membranes blackish ; bill 

 reddish brown, the nail bluish flesh-colour ; iris dark brown, the outer 

 ring yellowish white. Culmen 1*3, wing 9'5, tail 4*5, tarsus l'4inch. The 

 female has the upper parts brownish olive, the crown and hind-neck 

 greyish ; nuchal feathers elongate ; feathers round the eye, and a long 

 stripe behind the eye, white ; chin and throat white ; breast brownish, 

 spotted with white ; rest of under parts white. In the summe plumage 

 the male resembles the female but has the upper parts more glossed, and 

 the spots on the breast reddish instead of white. 



Hal. Eastern Siberia, Japan, Corea on passage ; resident in 

 central and southern China, Formosa. 



Frequents rivers and lakes ; nests in hollow trees like the 

 American JEx sponsa, and deposits pale yellowish eggs, which 

 measure about 2'08 by T57. 



