638 



Palmi- 

 pedes. 



ORNITHOLOGY. 



state, is a native of the warmer parts of America. In its 

 natural state it has the plumage entirely of a black colour, 

 glossed with green and blue, excepting the wing-coverts, 

 which are white. 



The pintails, genus Dafila, have the bill destitute of 

 tubercle at the base, narrow, somewhat cylindrical, with 

 its edges dentato-laminate ; the nostrils are basal, and the 

 tail elongated, and tapering to a point. 



The common pintail, Dafila acuta, has the head umber- 

 brown, with a longitudinal white line on each side of the 

 occiput and hind neck ; the back and flanks undulated with 

 black and grayish white ; the lower parts white ; and the 

 two central tail-feathers black. It breeds in the arctic re- 

 gions of Europe, Asia, and America; retires southward in 

 winter ; is very shy and vigilant; and is much esteemed as 

 an article of food. 



The ducks, strictly so called, genus Anas, are distin- 

 guished by having the bill simple at the base, as long as 

 the head, depressed, broad, and obtuse ; the nostrils oval 

 and small ; the tail moderate, even, or rounded, often with 

 the middle feathers and their coverts recurved. 



Of this genus, the most common species in Europe is 

 that which is supposed to be the original of the domestic 

 duck, and which with us is named the wild duck or mal- 

 lard, Anas boschas. The male is a very beautiful bird, 

 having the head and upper part of the neck deep green, 

 the latter with a white ring ; the four middle tail-feathers 

 recurved ; the upper parts marked with fine undulated 

 grayish-brown and white lines, the breast deep chesnut, 

 the lower parts grayish white, undulated with grayish- 

 brown lines ; the alar spot green, edged above and be- 

 low with white. It inhabits all the northern countries of 

 the globe, and is common in Britain, where it breeds, 

 forming its nest of withered plants in marshy places, and 

 laying from ten to fifteen bluish-white eggs. Instances 

 have occurred of its occupying the deserted nest of a crow. 

 Its flesh is justly held in great estimation, and vast num- 

 bers are shot and caught in decoys. The following ac- 

 count of the method employed in capturing wild ducks in 

 the fens of Lincolnshire is given by Bewick. 



" In the lakes where they resort, the most favourite 

 haunts of the fowl are observed : then in the most seques- 

 tered part of this haunt they cut a ditch about four yards 

 across at the entrance, and about fifty or sixty yards in 

 length, decreasing gradually in width from the entrance 

 to the farther end, which is not more than two feet wide. 

 It is of a semicircular form, but not bending much for the 

 first ten yards. The banks of the lake, for about ten 

 yards on each side of this ditch (or pipe, as it is called), 

 are kept clear from reeds, coarse herbage, &c. in order 

 that the fowl may get on them to sit and dress themselves. 

 Across this ditch, poles on each side, close to the edge of 

 the ditch, are driven into the ground, and the tops bent to 

 each other, and tied fast. These poles at the entrance 

 form an arch, from the top of which to the water is about 

 ten feet. This arch is made to decrease in height as the 

 ditch decreases in width, till the farther end is not more 

 than eighteen inches in height. The poles are placed 

 about six feet from each other, and connected together by 

 poles laid lengthwise across the arch, and tied together. 

 Over them a net with meshes sufficiently small to prevent 

 the fowl getting through is thrown across, and made fast to 

 a reed fence at the entrance, and nine or ten yards up the 

 ditch, and afterwards strongly pegged to the ground. At 

 the farther end of the pipe a tunnel-net, as it is called, is 

 fixed, about four yards in length, of a round form, and 

 kept open by a number of hoops about eighteen inches in 

 diameter, placed at a small distance from each other to 



keep it distended. Supposing the circular bend of the 

 pipe to be to the right, when you stand with your back to 

 the lake, on the left-hand side, a number of reed-fences v 

 are constructed, called shootings, for the purpose of screen- 

 ing from sight the decoy-tnan, and in such a manner that 

 the fowl in the decoy may not be alarmed when he is driv- 

 ing those in the pipe : these shootings are about four 

 yards in length, and about six feet high, and are ten in 

 number. From the end of the last shooting a person can- 

 not see the lake, owing to the bend in the pipes : there is 

 then no farther occasion for shelter. Were it not for 

 these shootings, the fowl that remain about the mouth of 

 the pipe would be alarmed, if the person driving the fowl 

 already under the net should be exposed, and would be- 

 come so shy as to forsake the place entirely. The first thing 

 the decoy-man does when he approaches the pipe, is to take 

 a piece of lighted turf or peat, and hold it near his mouth, 

 to prevent the fowl smelling him. He is attended by a dog 

 taught for the purpose of assisting him ; he walks very si- 

 lently about half-way up the shootings, where a small piece 

 of wood is thrust through the reed fence, which makes an 

 aperture just sufficient to see if any fowl are in ; if not, he 

 walks forward to see if any are about the mouth of the pipe. 

 If there are, he stops and makes a motion to his dog, and 

 gives him a piece of cheese or something to eat ; upon 

 receiving it, he goes directly to a hole in the reed-fence, 

 and the fowl immediately fly off the bank into the water ; 

 the dog returns along the bank between the reed-fences 

 and the pipe, and comes out to his master at another hole. 

 The man now gives him another reward, and he repeats 

 his round again, till the fowl are attracted by the motion 

 of the dog, and follow him into the mouth of the pipe. 

 This operation is called working them. The man now re- 

 treats farther back, working the dog at different holes till 

 the fowl are directly under the net ; he now commands 

 his dog to lie down still hehind the fence, and goes for- 

 ward to the end of the pipe next the lake, where he takes 

 oft' his hat, and gives it a wave between the shooting ; all 

 the fowl under the net can see him, but none that are in 

 the lake can. The fowl that are in sight fly forward, and 

 the man runs forward to the next shooting and waves his 

 hat, and so on, driving them along till they come to the 

 tunnel-net, where they creep in : when they are all in 

 he gives the net a twist, so as to prevent their getting 

 back ; he then takes the net off from the end of the pipe 

 with what fowl he may have caught, and takes them out 

 one at a time, and dislocates their necks, and hangs the net 

 on again, and all is ready for working again. In this man- 

 ner five or six dozen have been taken at one drift. When 

 the wind blows directly in or out of the pipes, the fowl 

 seldom work well, especially when it blows in. If many 

 pipes are made in the lake, they are so constructed as to 

 suit different winds." 1 The better to entice the fowl into 

 the pipe, hempseed is strewed occasionally in the water. 

 The season allowed by act of parliament for catching 

 these birds in this way is from the latter end of October 

 till February. 



The Chinese duck, Anas galericulata, with a pendent 

 crest, and the inner wing-feathers enlarged and raised in 

 a vertical direction, is an extremely beautiful species, a 

 native of China and Japan. 



The summer duck, Anas sponsa, which also has a pen- 

 dent crest, is not less beautiful. (Plate CCCCII. fig. 8.) 

 It inhabits Mexico and other parts of North America, 

 migrating northward in summer, rarely visiting the sea- 

 shore or salt marshes, but frequenting the muddy creeks, 

 ponds, and mill-dams of the interior. 



The tree duck, Anas arborea, of a gray colour, the ab- 



Palmi- 

 peiles. 



1 British Birds, vol. ii. p. 294. 



