206 J. Delacour — Full-winged Birds in Parks and Gardens


fly away, and so do young birds in their first autumn ; but if their

feathers are clipped in their first years, they generally stay afterwards

with full wings ; this, at least, is the experience of the keeper at Kew

Gardens, and this method could be tried with other species. The

different Sheldrakes,‘even the resident species such as the Paradise and

South African, have not proved satisfactory with me, and young

birds went away soon after they could fly ; but more experiments

would be necessary to be able to tell with certainty. At the Rome

Zoo, Common Shelducks breed and fly about without leaving the

grounds ; they are most attractive on the wing. Wild Muscovies are

good stayers and amusing in their way of perching on tall trees, and

I think the White-winged Wood Ducks would behave similarly.

Their smaller allies, the lovely Mandarin and Carolina Ducks, do

perfectly well at liberty, even in quite a small place, and most of the

residents species also do well; excellent results have been obtained

with Meller’s, Yellow-billed, Spot-billed, and Australian Mallards,

Chiloe Wigeons, Chilian Pintails, Chestnut-breasted Cinnamon, and

Chilian Teal, Red-crested Pochard, Rosy-billed, Madagascar White-

eyes, White-faced, Red-billed, Fulvous, and Black-billed Tree Ducks,

and no doubt other sedentary Ducks would prove equally suitable

to establish in a completely free state.


Many of our native Ducks will stay on a pond if not disturbed.

At Cleres, a number of Pochards, Tufted Wigeons, Garganeys, and

Teal, whether bred there or wild migrants, have remained for years

on the lake. But about 60 per cent of the young birds disappear in

the first autumn ; this is also true of Falcated, American Wigeons, and

a few other species.


The greatest risk of losing full-winged Ducks is the freezing over

of the water in the winter, and if this can be prevented by

springs or a strong flow, very few birds will go. Otherwise, even

quite well-established birds may leave and usually never return. Inci¬

dentally, Flamingoes can never be kept full-winged.


Screamers stay well, and are most interesting, as they roam like

Eagles, and settle on the top of trees.


A very good way of keeping the small Waders, including Gable

Egrets, is to liberate them with a cut wing in the spring ; the feathers



