M ABB LED BUCK. 121 



states tliat they also nest in rushes during IVEay and June, and that 

 incubation lasts from twenty to twenty-seven days. 



" I was unable to find the Marbled Duck near the Casa Vieja, or 

 about the Laguna de la Sanda, nor could I ascertain that it is 

 known there, but in the marshes of the Guadal quiver, especially near 

 the Goto del Rey, it is not uncommon. 



"In flight the Marbled Duck somewhat resembles the female 

 Pintail, but it is more of a Teal, as Lord Lilford observes. I found 

 them wary, and difiicult to approach; but in the* dusk they ^flight' 

 very low, and by watching the direction taken by them for one 

 night you may on the next evening be tolerably certain of shooting 

 a good many, and they are excellent eating. 



"The males resemble the females in their sombre dress, being of 

 a dull brown colour, marbled with light grey-brown, not having a 

 white feather in the plumage; the alar sj^eculum is pale creamy- 

 brown. The bill is narrow, hence the specific name. Total length 

 fourteen inches and a half; tarsus 1.2 inches." 



Doderlein (op. cit.) says of this bird: — "I am of opinion that this 

 species may sometimes occur in Sicily, though hitherto unnoticed. 

 A specimen in fact exists in the Museum of Syracuse, which the 

 Director says was taken in the neighbourhood of that city. Also 

 Baron Caraso told me that he had seen a specimen in 1866 near 

 Girgenti, and the clever ornithologist. Von Heuglin, asked me if I 

 had the opportunity to send him a specimen of this rare species from 

 Sicily, a request that I could not comply with. I am persuaded it will 

 ultimately be found in Sicily, the more so because it is very common 

 in Algeria, and has been met with in Sardinia by Cantraine and by 

 the diligent Cara." 



Salvadori says this species has only been found in Sardinia, where 

 it is very rare, as it does not appear that it has been found since , 

 Cantraine sent two individuals to Temminck, and a third received 

 by Durazzo from Cara, which was figured by Bonaparte in the 

 "Fauna Italica," and which, if I do not err, is now in the Museum 

 of the University of Geneva. The Museum of Cagliari in 1862 did 

 not possess any individual. This species has been found rather 

 commonly in Algeria, Tunis, in Palestine, and on the borders of the 

 Caspian Sea. 



According to M. Cantraine it feeds on insects and worms; and 

 Degland says that it breeds in Algeria, that its eggs are white, very 

 lightly tinged with russet, and that the ends are nearly of the same 

 size. Great diameter four centimetres and six or seven millemetres, 

 the smaller three centimetres three or four millemetres. 



VOL. V. R 



