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ANAS SIBIL AT RIX 
to be more herbivorous than either the Carolina Duck or the Mandarin (Mont- 
lezun, 1884), but they also require some animal matter. Miss Hubbard (1907) says 
one of her specimens was found choked to death with the tail of a field mouse pro- 
truding from its bill! 
The only pair which I ever kept, lived several years but did not nest. Of course 
dealers are usually unable to pick out the sexes, so that one is extremely likely to 
receive two birds of one sex. The would-be purchaser should try to get good young 
hand-reared stock as it is much more likely to breed than wild-trapped, imported 
birds. Hand-reared birds are worth about £5 per pair in England at this time. They 
do not seem to breed until their second year but this does not necessarily hold for 
wild birds under natural conditions. 
Hybrids. Crosses between the Chiloe Widgeon and other species are rare. 
None has ever been taken in the wild so far as I know, and in captivity only the 
cross with the Brown Pintail is at all common. The offspring of this cross prove 
sterile. One case of crossing with the Mallard has been recorded (Poll, 1911), and 
Finn (1900) says it has been crossed with the European Widgeon, in the London 
Gardens. Shaw-Bailey (1918), who has repeated this experiment, says the hybrids 
from this cross are almost indistinguishable from the American Baldpate, a result 
that is of great interest to students of evolution. 
