128 BIRD BEHAVIOUR 



way they are more land-feeders than Ducks gener- 

 ally. So are common Wigeon; and I have seen 

 their young ducklings dive for food, but, curiously 

 enough, not Mandarin ducklings, though the old 

 birds will dive for food more readily than any other 

 surfaceyfeeding Duck — indeed, I have seen them 

 do so more freely than at least two of the diving 

 Ducks — the Rosy-billed (Metopiana feposaca) and 

 Red-crested Pochard (Netta rufina). 



What habits the young of the curious Magpie- 

 Goose may have do not seem to have been recorded ; 

 it would be interesting to know if they fledge late 

 like the rest of the family. 



Flamingoes, by the way, show a distinct difference 

 from the Ducks in this respect; they fledge early 

 and gradually, the wing quills developing in good 

 time, just like the young of Storks and Ibises, to 

 which, as I said above, they appear really to be 

 allied. Their young are fed with disgorged food 

 from the beak, at any rate at first, just as in these 

 members of wading groups. 



Quite the most curious instance of parental aid 

 given to active young birds is that of the Wood- 

 cock, which carries its young from the dry wood 

 in which they are hatched to the moist feeding- 

 grounds, gripping them between the legs, which 

 are in this bird vei-y short for a wader, not longer, 

 in fact, than a Partridge's. Even when the young 

 are so far advanced towards maturity as to be bigger 

 than a Snipe, the habit is kept up. 



Another instance of active young being carried 



