MANDARIN DUCK 83 



During the moulting season the males neglected the females and kept together in 

 groups. 



Probably the best practice for an aviculturalist, particularly if located near waters 

 that remain open all winter, is to allow the birds the full use of their wings. If this 

 results in too much wandering, the females may be kept pinioned. There is no doubt 

 that the Mandarins will lay much more freely if allowed partial liberty. Free-flying 

 flocks were well established on the Duke of Bedford's estate at Woburn (Bedford, 

 1915) where they raised large broods, of which many survived. The birds, however, 

 did poorly until given perfect freedom. On Meade- Waldo's estate they were evi- 

 dently equally well established. 



Larrieu (1889) gives an account of a female who nested at some distance from the 

 pond of the estate. Beginning in March this bird came to the pond for two hours 

 each day, regularly at 9:30 a.m. and at 6 p.m. She would then remain with her mate 

 for a time, when the birds would both leave for the nest together. Eight or ten min- 

 utes later the male would return alone. 



A peculiar trait of Mandarins is mentioned by Heinroth (1911). When a female 

 searching for a nest finds hollows already occupied, she frequently destroys the 

 strange clutch, a thing which Carolinas are not in the habit of doing. 



Mandarins in captivity require no special food, but should have as great a variety 

 as possible; and of course the more forage surrounding the pond the better. If the 

 pond contains water-weeds or grass-roots it will be of great advantage, but where 

 many ducks are kept, such a supply will soon be exhausted. Some animal food is 

 necessary, as with aU water-fowl, and Hubbard (1907) even speaks of a Mandarin 

 drake that picked up and ate a dead field-mouse. Rogeron's Mandarins were very 

 fond of plain acorns, and would even eat hazelnuts (noisettes). Finn (1915b) saw an 

 unpinioned Mandarin Duck, raised at the London Zoological Gardens, feeding in 

 a tree on green acorns. 



Formerly there must have been considerable difficulty in obtaining Mandarins 

 from the Orient, and at one of the early sales for the London Zoological Gardens, as 

 much as £70 were paid for two pairs. In recent years they could usually be obtained 

 in American markets for from $12 to $20 the pair, more cheaply during the autumn 

 than in late winter or spring. They are, as a rule, not so plentiful as Carolina Ducks 

 and may be a little more expensive. Most of them are birds bred by European fan- 

 ciers. Hubbard (1907) gives the price in England as between £2/2 and £5/5 the 

 pair. 



Rogeron (1903) does not consider either Mandarins or Carolina Ducks as long- 

 lived "as other ducks," but mentions one female which was at least twenty years 

 old and had become blind. Many have lived to a good age in the London Gardens, 

 however. In Mitchell's account (1911) of the longevity of animals in London, I note 

 a specimen over eleven years old, but the average duration was only three and a half 



