144 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs 



Duck is that made by Mr. W. Eagle Clarke, ("Ibis," 1895, p. 203), from 

 notes taken by bim in tbe soutb- western Camargue, in May, 1894. On an island 

 in one of tbe sballow etangs they came upon a nest witb tbe female on ; " tbis 

 was placed in tbe centre of a tbick tangled mass of purslane {Atriplex portulacoidei) 

 so dense tbat it was reached by a covered way, two feet in length, worked in the 

 shrub where it rested on the soil ; the nest was on tbe ground, and consisted of 

 a broad rim of down, with a few short dry tamarisk twigs, and contained ten fresh 

 eggs. A few yards further on another duck of this species was disturbed — tbis 

 time from under an immense shrub of seablite, quite four feet in height and as 

 many in diameter. The nest in all respects resembled the last, and contained 

 seventeen eggs of two distinct types, and probably the production of different 

 females. Tbe eggs of one set were white and were all singularly mal-formed. 

 Tbe normal eggs are of clear pea-green, and a trifle smaller than those of the 

 Pochard. The down in the nest closely resembles that of the Eider-Duck in tint. 

 Both nests were about six yards from tbe water, and the birds wriggled off at 

 our feet." 



All who have had tbe advantage of seeing tbe male bird in a state of nature 

 speak of its exceeding beauty. Mr. A. B. Brooke, who saw it in Sardinia, says : 

 " the males have a peculiarly handsome appearance in the water, with their bright- 

 red bills and black breast plates shining and glistening in tbe sun as if they were 

 polished." Mr. W. Eagle Clarke and bis companion " were at once much impressed 

 witb tbe extreme beauty of these birds, which greatly exceeded our conception 

 formed from cabinet specimens and portraits. We particularly noticed tbat the 

 elongated feathers of the head, as seen under tbe brilliant sunlight, appeared to 

 be fringed with gold." 



Tbe late Mr. John Henry Gurney, describing one of tbe Norfolk specimens 

 killed in the winter of 1844, and now in the Norwich Museum, says : — " when 

 newly killed it was as beautiful a bird as I have ever seen; the beak was of a 

 most splendid vermilion-red colour, the nail of tbe beak being also red, but paler 

 than tbe rest. Tbe colouring of tbe beak began to fade soon after the bird was 

 mounted, as also did another beauty which was apparent when tbe bird was first 

 killed, and which consisted of a wonderfully elegant tinge of rose colour, which 

 pervaded tbe whole of the white part of tbe plumage, especially the two large 

 patches on the back above the shoulders." — ("Zoologist," Vol. II, p. 576). 



Some of tbe most beautiful tints in birds, particularly those of the soft parts, 

 are lost very rapidly after death. Tbe faded and badly set-up specimens in 

 some Museums, are but miserable caricatures of nature when matched against 

 tbe living creature in all the brightness and freshness of glorious life. I was 



