80 A IX GALERICULATA 



"The male and female wind their necks around each other" [but there is no indi- 

 cation that the Chinese believed copulation took place in this manner, as stated by 

 Koehler (1900)]. 



"When asleep, they wind their necks together; they are monogamous." 



The following references to the Mandarin in Chinese poetry are given by Legge 

 (Chinese Classics, 1871, volume 4, part 2, p. 418). 



"The Yellow Ducks [Mandarin] are on the dam 

 With their left wings gathered up" 

 again: 



"The Yellow Ducks were faithful, 

 How different from the king!" 



So far as I am able to ascertain from the very numerous observations on confined 

 birds, and the few notes of travelers in eastern Asia, the nesting habits of the present 

 species are identical with those of the Carolina Duck. Dbrries (1888) who collected 

 in the region north of Vladivostok, reports the species nesting in the hollows of trees, 

 preferably on small inland lakes or streams, occasionally, however, on some moun- 

 tain stream in the thick forest areas. In captivity, confined or semi-wild males assist 

 the females in nest-hunting, and even enter the holes, as is the case with the Caro- 

 lina Duck. The clutch is complete about the end of April or early May in the 

 northern part of the range, and consists of from nine to twelve eggs, very similar to 

 those of the Carolina Duck but slightly paler (Naumann, 1896-1905). Mr. Hugh 

 Wormald told me he could always tell them apart because the Mandarin's were 

 larger. The incubation period extends to twenty-eight or thirty days, perhaps even 

 longer (W. Evans, 1891; Job, 1915; Bennett, 1860; Wormald); certainly it is three 

 or four days longer than in the Mallard. Those reared under hens are supposed to 

 hatch two days sooner than when left to the mother. 



The males are said to flock together while the females are sitting, frequently 

 perching on the large branches of old trees, especially on the oaks, and presenting a 

 very bizarre spectacle (Taczanowski, 1893). Writing of the habits of Mandarin 

 Ducks at liberty in England, Meade- Waldo (1912) relates that the nests were in 

 holes in trees, many of them a long way from home, and high up in almost inacces- 

 sible places. The young "got themselves down" and were extraordinarily active 

 when first hatched. (Finn relates that a lot of downy young jumped out from a nest 

 fifty feet high and landed safely on a hard carriage drive.) Some of the nests were at 

 least two feet deep in a perpendicular tree-trunk, and the young found no difficulty 

 in getting out. One brood covered a mile as the crow flies, partly through standing 

 corn, the day they were hatched. It took them a little over an hour. The young 

 ones showed great strength in leaping from the water and perching on branches with 

 the mother, and one or two would jump on to the mother's back. They did not 

 dive, apparently, although adults often do so in captivity. The old females did not 



