a young one having been dropped at the foot of an intelligent
friend unhurt, by the mother flying over his head. The young
birds do not come to their full plumage till the fecond year:
they may be hatched under a tame Duck, and the young readily
brought up j but are apt, after a few years, to attempt the mattery
over the reft of the poultry; and we have feen feme that weie
even vicious, attacking every thing that came in their Way. In
a ftate of nature the food feems chiefly to be final] fijh, marine infers,
and Jhells; herbage has likewife been found in their fto-
machs. In a tame ftate will eat bread, grain, and greens. Their
great beauty would tempt us to endeavour at domefticating the
race ; but it will not thrive completely, except in the neighbourhood
of fait waterr which fomehow feems effential to its wellbeing
: the flefh likewife is rank and unfavoury, though the eggs
have at all times been thought very good.
This fpecies is found as far as Iceland to the north. Vifits Sweden
and the Orknies in the winter, and returns m Spring. Is found
i n a b o u t the Cafpitm Sea, and all the fait lakes of the Tartarian
and Sibirian Defarts*, as well as in Kamtfchatka f . Our
voyagers, if right in the fpecies, have alfo met with it at Falkland
IJles and Van Diemen’s Land \\,
* Between Syfran and Symhyrjk, in the fpring, M. Lefechin met with the Sbiel-
Aralt, Pintail, Showier, and other forts of Duels, in foch quantities as to be
obliged to flop his ears on account of their noife.— Dec. Rt)jf. i. p. +72-
f ArSn ZooL .
X .. The Sheldrakes fwarmed in foch a manner at Falkland’s Iflands, that in
failing our boats under the rocks we have killed hundreds with our oars and
heat-hooks''— Penro/e, p. 34.
|| Cask’s Voy. i. p. 229.
L E N G T H
I E N G T H fifteen inches. Bill two inches, turning up a little
at the end ; colour a fine deep crimfon: irides red : plumage
on the upper parts dufky brown, paleft on the forehead: the feathers
on the back very pale on the margins: the chin, fides of
the head beneath the eye, and the reft of the under parts, white:
but the fides of the bread are irregularly fpotted with brown :
over the thighs tranfverfely marked with fine lines of brown :
on the wing a tranfverfe narrow bar of white; below it another
o f buff-colour : tail dufky black: legs the fame.
Inhabits the Cape of Good Hope.
52.
CRIMSON-BILLED
D.
Description.
Place*
Anas Bahamenfis, Lin. Syjl. i. p. 199. 17.
Le Canard de Bahama, Brif. Orn. vi. p. 358. 12,
Le Marec, Buf. Oif. ix. p. 256.
Mareca prima MarcgravH, Raii Syn. p. 149.4.
The firft Mareca of Marcgrave, Will. Orn• p. 379* § 1
Ilathera Duck, Catejb. Car. i. pi. 93.-—ArS* Zool. N° 495*
O I Z E of the Common Duck: length feventeen inches. Bill lead-
^ colour, marked on each fide near the bafe with a triangular
orange fpot: the top of the head rufous grey ; that of the neck,
back, fcapulars, and rump, rufous brown: cheeks, throat,
and fore part of the neck, white : bread, belly, and thighs,
rufous grey, fpotted with black : under tail coverts plain .
letter wing coverts dufky; the greater green, with black tips:
fecond quills of a dull yellow; prime ones dufky: legs lead-
colour.
This inhabits Brafil, and is alfo met with in the Bahama
2 ^ 2 Iflands,
S3r
ILATHERA D.
Description.
Place.
l