198 ORNAMENTAL WATERFOWL. 
not yet bred in the Zoological Gardens, although hybrids have 
occurred between this Pochard and the Rosy-bill Duck. It has, 
however, been reared on the Continent, among the successful 
amateurs being M. Achille Roffay, of Angers; and I have myself 
bred it in Buckinghamshire, setting the eggs under a bantam 
hen, and rearing the young in a wire coop on grass. 
The foster mother was quite at home with her brood, and 
the ducklings thrived well upon hard-boiled eggs, mixed with fine- 
chopped lettuce, oatmeal, and sweet curds, well pressed, finely 
crumbled, and given sparingly but at close intervals. As with 
most varieties of small fancy ducks, little earth-worms, ants’ 
eggs, maggots, and other live animal food was daily offered to 
them, while a shallow dish containing pond water, with duck- 
weed, was easily accessible. 
When reared under a hen, the young ducklings should not 
be allowed to go to the water until they are ten days old, as I 
found them under these circumstances much more liable to 
cramp than when reared by their natural mother. I attribute 
this, in great measure, to the fact that when the duck is 
swimming with her brood the young frequently climb on her 
back and rest themselves, whereas without guidance they are 
apt to remain too long in the water, and to become entangled 
in the weeds, and chilled. 
Male.—Head, cheeks, and throat bright clear chestnut, 
the crown feathers long and full, forming a silky crest which the 
bird erects when excited; breast and abdomen velvet black ; 
shoulder, wing-bar, and flanks white; wings ash grey and 
brown ; bill and eyes bright scarlet ; legs red orange. During 
the moult resembles the female, but is identified by the redness 
of the bill and feet. 
Female.—Head and neck brown ; crest less developed ; 
upper body bay; breast and flanks brownish-yellow ; eyes 
reddish-chestnut ; legs and feet reddish-brown. 
