TRUE DUCKS. 
213 
quill feathers. This beautiful bird is extensively distri- 
buted through India, Persia, and the northern parts of 
Asia : it is found also at the -Cape, and in other parts of 
Africa ; and in Em-ope, in Austria, Hungary, and Eussia. 
Only three or four specimens have been taken in this 
country. It is sometimes called the Coloured Duck, 
The second species is about twenty-four inches in length ; 
it has a curiously-formed bill, with a fleshy knob at the 
base; the hind and upper part of the neck are black, 
glossed with green ; the lower part of the neck is white, 
the fore part of the body light red ; the rest of the plumage 
white, except a band on the breast and abdomen, a broad 
patch on each side of the back by the shoulders, and the 
first quill feathers, w^hich are black : the second quill fea- 
thers are green, wdth red between, and the coverts of the 
white tail are brownish yellow. For size and beauty, this 
bird may stand at the head of our native Ducks. It is 
a permanent resident with us, being met with, though 
sparingly, at almost every part of our coasts ; it feeds on 
wet pastures near the sea, and makes its nest in a hole 
in the sand. It sometimes takes possession of a deserted 
rabbit burrow, hence one of its common names. Besides 
dry grass and other herbage, it uses down from its own 
breast, like the Eider Duck. The eggs are from eight to 
twelve in number, smooth and glossy, of a reddish white 
colour. This is a shy and cautious bird, frequenting open 
places, and not easily ajDproached, except when breeding. 
The Common Duck (A7ias Boschas), sometimes called the 
Wild Duck, or Mallard. 
The Bimaculated Duck (^4. glocitans). — The above are 
the British representatives of the genus Anas, constituting 
the true Ducks. The first named of them is with us the 
most common bird of the flimily; it is undoubtedly a native 
species, and the original of the domestic varieties. Although 
not one of the most elegantly fomied, it is certainly one of 
the most beauitfuUy coloured of all the Anatince ; the head 
and upper part of the neck are of a deep glossy green ; a 
narrow white collar divides this from the lower part of the 
neck, which, with a portion of the breast, is of a dark 
brownish chestnut, fading off into greyish white towards 
