GADWALL, WIDGEONS, AND SHOVELLERS. 
clucks in the shape of the many kinds of Teal, and fan- 
ciers would do better to aid in the importation of the 
many as yet untried kinds of these exquisite little birds 
than to try and dwarf the species already under their 
care. 
The proper place of the Chilian Pintail is, in my 
opinion, on a large sheet of water among a mixed collec- 
tion. It is h irdly bright enough for a fancy bird, but 
its habits are interesting, for, though by make and 
general behaviour, a surface- feeder, it will, at all events 
when young, freely dive for food like a Pochard, 
an action I have never seen the Common Pin- 
tail perform. In St. James’s Park, where the clear 
water is admirably suited for observation of the 
habits of the fowl, I once saw “ flappers ” diving 
and catching fish under water like Cormorants ! 
Here is a fine opportunity for any enterprising fancier 
who wants to do a little evolution on his own account 
The Chilian Pintail seems to have the ordinary habits of 
a surface-feeder in its wild state, even feeding on dry 
land at some distance from water, a thing no diving 
duck would dream of doing. Yet it evidently readily 
takes to diving, and a course of breeding for this point 
would probably result in some slight change of form 
highly interesting to the naturalist. Besides, most 
people find diving-ducks far more interesting than sur- 
face-feeders, and they can naturally forage very much 
better. 
The Chilian Pintail, according to Miss Hubbard, lays 
in April and August, and sits about a month, twenty- 
nine or twenty-eight days. The eggs are very pale 
reddish drab, the clutch containing about nine ; the 
ducklings are dark grey-brown above, paler below, and 
are very easily reared, feeding readily on dry oatmeal, 
barleymeal, and breadcrumbs, scattered on water in a 
shallow pan let into the ground. 
Several years ago I exhibited to the London Zoological 
Society the skin of a curious hybrid between this species 
and a Carolina duck. The father was a Chilian Pintail 
which had been flying about the gardens un pinioned, 
and the rest of the brood, I understood, were pure. The 
hybrid was more or less intermediate between the two 
species, but, as often happens, in some points resembled 
neither parent. 
THE BAHAMA PINTAIL. 
(Dafila bahamensis. ) 
The smallest of the three Pintails I have mentioned, 
this species is, in my opinion, the most delicately 
beautiful of all. The drake is nineteen inches long, 
and his plumage is of a delicate cinnamon, spotted 
with black below ; the shoulder feathers are black, 
laced with cinnamon, and the tail and vent pure 
cinnamon with no darker markings at all ; the wing- 
bar is metallic green and narrow, broadly bordered 
with cinnamon ; the throat and cheeks are pure white. 
The feet and bill are lead-colour, with a triangular rose- 
red patch at the root of the latter on each side. 
The female is very like the male, but smaller, with 
less bright pink on the bill, and plumage duller gene- 
rally ; also, according to Miss Hubbard, she has the eye 
brown, whereas the eyes of the drake are “vermilion- 
yellow ” or red-chestnut. The British Museum Catalogue 
does not state what is the colour of the eye in this 
species, and I find Miss Hubbard’s account of t he colours 
of the eyes, etc., of waterfowl is not always correct — 
doubtless she often wrote from memory — so that I 
men don this point with caution. I did not notice it 
myself when 1 saw a bird of this kind alive at the 
London Zoo. 
This Pintail inhabits some of the West Indies, and 
most of South America down to the Falkland?. It 
breeds well in Europe, and is frequently shown. Few 
ducks are more exquisitely coloured than this, and it 
has ihe great advantage of possessing practically the 
same plumage for both sexes, and, as is usual in such 
cases, not going into undress. 
It breeds, Miss Hubbard tells us, twice a year, the season 
being from May to August, and the eggs seven to ten in 
number, pale brown, the second clutch slightly darker 
than the first. The ducklings are much like those of 
the common Pintail. The lady above quoted states that 
the sex is difficult to distinguish in the fledged young 
till the second year, the bill up to this time being- 
reddish brown. 
I should strongly advise any intending duck fancier 
to make an early trial of this species, since it presents 
the advantages of beauty and prolificacy combined ; 
whether it is pugnacious or not 1 cannot say person- 
ally, arid the authority I have so frequently" quoted does 
not allude to this point ; but according to my own 
observations and experience Pintails of the other two 
species are very inoffensive with other waterfowl, so that 
the pretty Bahama is probably the same, and “ a perfect 
duck ” all round. 
CHAPTER IX. 
GADWALL, WIDGEONS, AND SHOVELLERS. 
THE GADWALL. 
( Chaulelasrnus streperus.) 
This is a near relative of the Mallard, but rather 
smaller and decidedly slighter and more delicate in 
build ; it resembles that bird also in habits and distribu- 
tion, being one of our breeding ducks. However, I only 
mention it here to warn people against it, unless they 
are making a general collection of British ducks, for, 
although a good sporting species, it is not worth its 
keep as a fancy bird, owing to its dull, uninteresting 
plumage. The drake is pencilled grey of a dingy tone, 
with black rump and stern, and the wing provided with 
a deep cinnamon patch and a white, bar, which will at 
once distinguish him from any surface-feeding duck ; the 
duck is much like the common wild duck, but the white 
wing-bar readily distinguishes her. 
The Widgeons, on the other hand, are most charming- 
little birds ; two out of the three known species are 
available. They are at once recognisable by their 
small neat blue-grey bills tipped with black, long 
wings, and sharp tails ; they measure about a foot 
and a-half in length, so are considerably smaller than 
the Mallard. Although more or less omnivorous, they 
are particularly keen on grass, and graze on land like 
geese, soon eating up all the grass in any small enclosure 
in which they may be placed, as may easily be seen in 
the London Zoo in whatever run Widgeons are kept. 
This must be borne in mind in keeping them ; as they 
walk well a good grass run is more do the point in their 
case than a very big pond. One of the available kinds 
is a British bird, the other a foreigner ; so take the 
former first. 
THE COMMON WIDGEON. 
(Mareca penelojie . ) 
Inhabits the northern parts of the Old World, and is 
probably spreading to the New, since every now and 
then it occurs on American coasts. In colour the drake 
is very handsome, being of a clear delicate pencilled 
grey generally, with white belly and wing-shoulders, and 
black stern and tail ; the head is rich cinnamon with a 
cream blaze down the forehead and a metallic green 
shading behind the eye ; the breast is greyish pink, and 
the wing-bar hr lliant metallic green and black. The 
eyes are dark, the bill French-grey, and the feet grey, as 
in all Widgeons. 
The duck is very plain, being dark brown with slight 
