Cotton Teal in Captivity. 269


COTTON TEAL IN CAPTIVITY.


Nettapus coromandelianus.


By Hubert D. Astley.


There is not much doubt that this charming little duck can,

if once acclimatized, be as easily kept in England as any other of

its family. I have one male, I am referring to the Indian Cotton

Teal, which has successfully passed through two winters on open

water, as well as two males and four females which have now been

in my possession for a year.


That I should have had four more of this species I do not

doubt, had not a large rat dived under the wire netting of their

enclosure and killed them, proving how persistent and destructive

these horrible animals are, for there were only two or three inches

of space beneath the water, where the wire hurdles did not actually

touch the bottom.


The three surviving male Cotton Teal emerged from their

eclipse plumage into full colour by the end of April, after which they

were extremely handsome with their snow white cheeks and flanks,

narrow black band from the shoulder and dark bottle-green backs.

Moreover for the first time since I have had them, they commenced

to utter calls in unison, a low sharp-sounding quacking, rather

resembling the croak of green tree-frogs in the distance. I have

not had leisure to observe any display on the part of the males,

but I have seen them swim round the females, circling about, and

trying to look important.


I am sure these ducks should not be kept where they cannot

have open air and fresh water, on which they spend nearly all of their

time. A pair had been put in the Fish House at the London

Zoological Gardens, and the male failing to moult freely, succumbed.

My birds have passed the winter where ice sometimes formed on

the water, and are in magnificent condition and plumage. I placed

branches of trees in the water, but have seldom, and of late never

seen the Cotton Teal make use of them.


They can and do perch—as they did in the Zoological

Gardens—but from the behaviour of my birds, it is evident that if

they have sufficient water, they prefer that.



