187 
cause of captivity, nature has performed a 
perfect cure. Her nature is gentle, timid, 
and sociable; will follow those with whom 
she is acquainted from one side of the me- 
nagerie to the other, especially ladies of the 
family dressed in white: is often turned 
o^it of her course by a pugnaceous male 
Shieldrake, and acts only offensively when 
food is the object, and then only where re- 
sentment is not expected. She eats but little 
grass on land, but will devour aquatic 
plants occasionally ; barley, however, is her 
principal food, and she never attempts to 
touch bread which is sometimes thrown to 
other birds ; nor will she devour small fish, 
which some of the diving ducks greedily 
eat." 
This species (like some of the Falcons, 
&c.) vary considerably in the colour of 
their irides, in some they are of a pale 
yellow, in others of a dusky colour. The 
plumage of the young is described to be 
of a brownish colour during the first year, 
and one shot in the month of March had 
the feathers on the forehead and in front 
of the eyes of a dull orange ; the rest of 
