iNDtAN DUCKS AND TMEIR ALLIES. 665 



deed, Canel says (p. 155) that "a pair of these birds are frequently 

 placed in a gaily decorated cage, and carried in their marriage 

 processions, and are afterwards presented to the bride and bridegroom 

 as worthy objects of their emulation." 



The same author in describing their flight writes : " Whilst on the 

 wing these parties crowd closely together in front, whilst the birds in 

 the rear occupy a comparatively free space." 



As regards their nidification very little is known ; it seems to breed 

 everywhere throughout the North of its range, perhaps also wherever 

 it is foand. It appears, however, to visit the A moor and the more 

 Northern extremes of its habitat only during the breeding season so 

 that it is probably locally migratory. It is one of the species of ducks 

 which build in trees and in captivity breeds very freely. 



W. Evans in the " Ibis," giving the period of incubation for various 

 birds, gives that of this duck as 30 days, whilst Finn gives it as 26. 

 In the Zoological Gardens, up to 1874, the Mandarin had hatched eggs 

 no less than twenty-six times, the earliest date for the young to appear 



being the 31st May, 1858, and the latest July, the 16th, 1874. As the 

 normal climate in which the duck breeds is not unlike ours, except in 



the extreme north, these dates will probably coincide with its breeding 



season when in its natural state. 



The British Museum possesses five eggs of j^a; galericulaJta which 



measure 2-2" X 1-6"; 2-15" X 1*54"; 2-15" X 1'6" ; 2-08" X 1'56" 



and 2'16'' X 1'52". In shape these eggs are very regular ellipses, but 



slightly compressed at one end. The texture is smooth and close and 



distinctly glossy, and the colour is a very pale fawn or yellowish white. 



One egg was originally, perhaps, rather darker in colour than the rest. 



but is so soiled that it is difl&cult to say with any certainty. All those 



eggs were laid by birds in captivity. 



