68 
THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 
the males wear a distinctive livery ; but the 
males for a few weeks during the summer 
assume more or less completely the livery of 
the female, a process aptly described as going 
into “ eclipse.” The assumption of the female 
dress at this season is necessary, since it 
harmonises completely with the surrounding 
foliage, and so effectually conceals the bird at 
a time when it is peculiarly helpless ; for, as 
with all birds, the quills or flight-feathers are 
cast off by the process known as moulting 
once a year, but instead of being replaced in 
pairs,- and the flight remaining unaffected, they 
are shed all at once, so that escape from 
Photo hy ]v. F. PiggotQ [Leighton Buxxard eiiemics iTiust bc souglit by concealment. 
EIDER-DUCK Usually among birds the male has the 
It is the down of this bird which is so much in demand for quilts 11101 C pOWCrful VoicC, but witll tllC mallard 
and its allies the reverse is the case, the 
female giving forth the loud familiar “ quack, quack,” whilst the note of the male sounds like 
a feeble attempt to answer its mate, but smothered by a cold in the head. This peculiar and 
characteristic subdued voice is associated with a remarkable bulb-shaped bony enlargement at 
the bottom of the windpipe, just where it branches off to the right and left lungs, the 
female being without this swelling. 
The nest is composed of grass, and lined with down plucked by the female from her own 
breast, with the sole object, it is generally believed, of keeping the eggs warm ; but it is 
possible that the down is removed as much for the sake of bringing the warm surface of the 
body in closer contact with the eggs. The site chosen for the nest is exceedingly varied ; 
usually the nest is placed on the ground and near the water, but sometimes in a hedgerow 
or in a wood, and occasionally in trees, and instances are on record where the deserted nests 
of hawks and crows have been appropriated. At such times the young seem to be brought 
to the ground by the parent, who carries them down in her bill. It is some time before 
the wings of the young birds 
are big enough to carry them ; 
indeed, they are quite full 
grown in so far as the body 
is concerned. At this stage 
they are known as ‘‘ flappers.” 
Advantage was at one time 
taken of their helplessness in 
the “ sport” known as “ flapper- 
shooting.” On other occasions 
numbers of people assembled 
and “beat” a vast tract of 
country, driving these young 
flappers before them to a 
given spot where nets were 
placed, in which as many as 
150 dozen have been taken 
at one time. Fortunately this 
practice has been abolished 
by Act of Parliament. 
Several very distinct 
'Photo by IV. F. Piggoii\ \_Leighton Buxxard 
SHELDRAKE 
The female bird is just entering her nest at the bottom of a long burrow 
