THE WIDGEON. 601 



at a distance mere lines with black points, and occupy more than one-half their whole length ; 

 their heavy bodies, and triangular wings, seeming but mere appendages to the prolonged body 

 in front." 



The Swan, when migrating, with a moderate wind in favor, probably travels at the rate of 

 an hundred miles an hour. 



"When feeding, and dressing their feathers, Swans make a great outcry, and can be heard 

 several miles. Their notes are extremely varied : some closely resembling a deep bass of a 

 common tin horn, while others run through a variation of the French horn. It is said that 

 these birds require five or six years for maturity. Bewick's Swan is sometimes found in this 

 country. 



The European Swan (Olor ci/gnus) is also a straggler here. 



The beautiful Mandarin Duck is worthy of heading the true Ducks, for a more magnifi- 

 cently clothed bird can hardly be found when the male is in health, and in his full nuptial 

 plumage. 



These birds are natives of China, and are held in such esteem that they can hardly be 

 obtained at any price, the natives having a singular dislike to seeing their birds jDass into the 

 possession of Europeans. "A gentleman.'" writes Dr. Bennett, "very recently wrote from 

 Sydney to China, requesting some of these birds to be sent to him. The reply was, that from 

 the present disturbed state of China, it would lie easier to send him a pair of mandarins than 

 a pair of Mandarin Ducks." This bird has the power of perching, and it is a curious sight to 

 watch them perched on the branches of trees overhanging the pond in which they live, the 

 male and female being always close together, the one gorgeous in purple, green, white, and 

 chestnut, and the other soberly apparelled in brown and gray. 



This handsome plumage of the male is lost during four months of the year, i.e., from 

 May to August, when the bird throws off his fine crest, his wing-fans, all his brilliant colors, 

 and assumes a sober tinted dress resembling that of his mate. The Summer Duels, of America 

 {Aix sponsa) bears a close resemblance to the Mandarin Duck, both in plumage and manners ; 

 and at certain times of the year is hardly to be distinguished from that bird. The Mandarin 

 Duck has been successfully reared in the Zoological Gardens, some being hatched under the 

 parent bird, and others under a domestic hen, the latter hatching the eggs two days in advance 

 of the former. The eggs are of a creamy-brown color. 



The crest of this beautiful Duck is varied green and purple upon the top of the head, the 

 long crest-like feathers being chestnut and green. From the eye to the beak, the color is 

 warm fawn, and a stripe from the eye to the back of the neck is soft cream. The sides of the 

 neck are clothed with long, pointed feathers of bright russet, and the front of the neck and 

 breast are rich, shining purple. The curious wing-fans, that stand erect like the wings of a 

 butterfly, are chestnut, edged with the deepest green, and the shoulders are banded with four 

 stripes, two black and two white. The under surface is white. The female is simply mottled 

 brown, and the young are pretty little birds, covered with downy plumage of a soft brown 

 above, mottled with gray, and creamy-white below. 



The Shieldrakes, of which there are two European species, namely, the common 

 Shieldrake ( Tadorna mtlpanser) and the Ruddy Shieldrake (Casarka rviila), are handsome 

 birds, and remarkable for the singular construction of the windpipe, which is expanded just 

 at the junction of the two bronchial tubes into two very thin horny globes, one being nearly 

 twice the size of the other. They are sometimes called Burrow Ducks, because they lay their 

 eggs in rabbit-burrows made in sandy soil, and are often discovered by the impression of their 

 feet at the entrance of the holes. The nests are made of grass, lined with down plucked from 

 the breast of the parent, and the eggs are generally from ten to twelve in number. 



The well-known Widgeon is very plentiful in Europe, arriving about the end of September 

 or the beginning of October, and assembling in large flocks. 



Vol. II.— 76. 



