ORNAMENTAL WATERFOWL. 131 
the fancier will find he must be prepared to lay down £6 or £8 
for a pair of these beautiful birds, which at the time of their 
first importation realised £20 a couple. This Sheldrake has 
. the power of covering the white shoulders with the mantle or 
long feathers of the back, which occurring usually when the 
bird is resting, causes it to present an entirely different appear- 
ance to that displayed when in motion or excited, at which 
times the contrasting tints of the iron-grey back, the snow- 
white shoulder, vivid green wing-bar and chestnut sides, 
present a magnificent spectacle. 
Some interesting particulars respecting the breeding in 
France of the Variegated Sheldrake, are communicated to the 
“Bulletin de la Société Impériale Zoologique d’Acclimatation ” 
(1884), by M. le Comte A. de Montlézun and M. E. Courtois. 
These gentlemen remark upon the violent disposition of 
the “Paradise Ducks,” which they found it imperative to keep 
in solitary confinement during the breeding season. ‘The Duck 
in one instance deposited her eggs on the ground behind a 
bundle of straw, and also in a wooden house elevated just 
above the level of the water in the centre of a pond, the eggs 
being white, tinted with yellow, the size of those of the 
Common Duck. The bird on leaving her nest concealed the 
eggs with the down which composed its lining. The young, 
which were hatched after thirty days incubation, are described 
by M. G. Rogerson as white, with black streaks. The food 
found to be most acceptable to the ducklings consisted of bread, 
duckweed, chicory, hard eggs, chopped mussels, crumbled and 
mixed with milk, buckwheat being added in a few days. 
Experience appeared to differ on this point, one gentleman 
stating the ducklings would not touch ants, eggs, or chopped 
meat; this may, however, have been influenced by the fact 
that in the latter instance the young birds were reared by a 
