THE SWIMMERS. 155 



reception of her eggs, while her faithful spouse keeps watch outside. About May, or in some 

 localities a month later, the eggs, from seven to twelve in number, are deposited ; they are small, 

 oval, and have a smooth white or yellowish shell. As soon as all the eggs are laid, the female 

 covers them with down, spreading it thickly over them whenever she quits her charge. No sooner 

 is the mother burdened with family cares than, as is the case with some other species, she is deserted 

 by her hitherto devoted mate, who joins his male companions and roams with them over neighbouring 

 pieces of water until the close of the moulting season. The period of incubation lasts about twenty- 

 five days. "If," says Audubon, "the nest of the Wood Duck is placed immediately over the water, 

 the young, the moment they are hatched, scramble to the mouth of the hole, launch into the air with 

 their little wings and feet spread out, and drop into their favourite element ; but whenever their 

 birthplace is at some distance from it, the mother carries them to it one by one in her bill, holding 

 them so as not to injure their tender frames. On several occasions, however, when the hole was 

 thirty, forty, or more yards from a pool or other piece of water, I observed the mother suffered the 

 young to fall on the grasses and dried leaves beneath the trees, and afterwards led them to the nearest 

 edge of the next pool or creek. At this early age the young answer to their parent's call with a 

 mellow ' Pee, pee, pee,' often and rapidly repeated. The call of the mother at such time is soft, low, 

 and prolonged, resembling the syllables ' Pe-ee, pe-ee.' The watch-note of the male, which resembles 

 ' Hoe-eek,' is never uttered by the female ; indeed, the male himself seldom uses it unless alarmed by 

 some .uncommon sound or the sight of a distant enemy, or when intent on calling passing birds of his 

 own species." 



Wilson mentions having heard from an eye-witness that a female of this species was seen carrying 

 down thirteen young from her nest to the ground in the space often minutes. This she accomplished 

 by seizing them one by one in her bill by the wing or back of the neck, and thus bearing them to the 

 foot of the tree, whence she afterwards led them to the water. 



THE CHINESE TEAL, OR MANDARIN DUCK. 

 The Chinese Teal, or Mandarin Duck (Aix galericulata), represents the group Cosmonessa, 

 comprising birds closely resembling the Summer Ducks above described. This well-known species is 

 not merely adorned with a crest, but has a flowing collar, and two remarkable fans or plumes situated 

 on the shoulders. In the gorgeously apparelled male the green crest is purplish blue in front, with 

 brown and green at the sides and back j a broad, brownish yellow line shading into yellowish white 

 passes from the eyes to the nape ; the long-pointed collar-feathers are bright red, the front of the neck 

 and sides of the breast brownish red. The back-feathers are light brown ; the fan-like shoulder-plumes 

 steel-blue on the outer and brownish yellow on the inner web, which is edged with black and white. 

 The sides of the breast exhibit two white and two black stripes ; the sides of body are yellowish grey 

 darkly marked ; the under parts white, and the quills brownish grey bordered with white on the outer 

 web. The eye is yellowish red, the beak red, with a white tip, and the foot reddish yellow. The 

 female closely resembles the female Aix sponsa in appearance. The brilliant plumage of the male is 

 thrown off from May to August, when the bird also loses its crest and wing-fans, and assumes a sober- 

 tinted dress similar to that of his mate. The Mandarin Ducks are natives of Japan and China, and 

 are highly esteemed in the latter country as exhibiting, it is supposed, a most striking example of 

 conjugal attachment and fidelity. 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. So highly, indeed, are they valued, that 

 Dr. Bennett, we are told, was informed *by a friend whom he commissioned to buy him a pair, that he 

 could send him two live mandarins to Australia with far more ease than a pair of Mandarin Ducks. 



