ig6 



NA TURE 



\_7nly 29, 1880 



year in the Society's Gardens, and we have been able to 

 supply many of the wardens and collections on the Con- 

 tinent with pairs of fliis fine species. 



Another successful introduction, from a very different 

 quarter of the globe, has been the paradise duck of 

 iS'ew Zealand. The so-called paradise duck belongs to 

 the genus Tadonta, or shield-drake, and is remarkable, as 

 I believe we were first certainly able to ascertain from 

 our living specimens, for the black head of the male 

 being replaced by a brilliant white in the female. What 

 is still more remarkable however is that in this bird the 

 young in both sexes, contrary to what usually obtains 

 amongst the whole class of birds, have the plumage of 

 the male parent, the female birds putting on the white 

 head only after the first moult. The paradise duck was 

 first obtained by the Society in 1S63, when specimens of 



both sexes were presented to us by IMr. J. G. Tetley ; the 

 species first bred in the Gardens in May, 1865, and, 

 assisted by the arrival of subsequent specimens, has 

 continued to do so ever since, so that we have been able 

 to supply many of our friends and correspondents on the 

 Continent with examples of this duck, which may now be 

 considered as firmly established in the gardens of Europe. 

 Amongst other fresh-water ducks which have been suc- 

 cessfully acclimatised in the same way within recent 

 years I should also notice the Chiloe widgeon and the 

 Chilian pintail, of Antarctic America, the spotted-billed 

 duck of India, and the Brazilian teal, all of which have 

 of late >-ears bred freely in the Society's Gardens. 



I will conclude with a few remarks upon the geo- 

 graphical distribution of the AnatidK. 



In treating of this part of the subject I find it impos- 



/ J 



Fig. I.— Up land G^ 



sible to separate conveniently the Palrearctic and Nearctic 

 species, or those of the northern parts of the Old and 

 New World. So many of the high northern species are 

 circumpolar or common to both continents, and so many 

 other of the Patearctic species have closely allied (in 

 some cases barely separable) representatives in the 

 Nearctic area, that it is much more natural to unite these j 

 categories into one group as "Arctic Anatidae." Adding j 

 to this the other four generally recognised divisions, we ' 

 shall find the Anatida; come out, somewhat as follows, in t 

 five great geographical groups : — 



I. Arctic Anatid.-e.— The Arctic Anatida; are by 

 far the most numerous of all the five groups, these birds 

 with their thick covering of feathers, and aquatic habits, ! 

 being naturally adapted to cold and wintry climate;. Out 



of the 38 known species of geese 20, out of the 10 known 

 swans 7, and of the 31 known sea-ducks not less than 26 

 belong to this category. Of the whole number of 174 

 generally recognised species of Anatida?, 77 may, I think, 

 be best set down as Arctic, although some of them, such 

 as Tadorita riitila, Fn/ii^ida rufina, and M a7-maronetta 

 angiistirostris, cannot be strictly so termed, as they in- 

 habit only the temperate portions of the Palrearctic 

 region. Very many of the Patearctic species also, as 

 will be noted below, go far south in winter and intrude 

 far into the /Ethiopian, Indian, and Neotropical regions. 

 II. /ExHloriAN Anatid.'E. — Under this head I place 

 only those species that live all the year round, and breed 

 within the .'Ethiopian region. These are about twenty- 

 two in number. 



