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Show ~80 DOMESTIC DUCKS. CIIAP. Vlll. A. boschas, has its four middle tail-feathers em-leu upwardly ; now m· every one of t h. o ab ove-nameu·1 do1nestic breeds these curled feather.· exist, and on the supposition that they arc descended from distinct species, wo must as. u~e that ~an formerly lu· t upon speC·ie s a 11. of w] n ' ch l1ad th1s now umque character. l\1orcov r, sub-varieties of each breed are c~loured almost exactly like the wild duck, as I have tieen with tho ]araest and smallest breeds, namely Houens and .Call-clucks, and, a 1\1r. Brent ·tatcs,n is the case with Hook~lnllcd ducks. 'J'l u·s gcn tle ma1J , <"•S he informs• roc ' crossed a w]nte Aylesb.u ry d ra] < :e an< 1 a 'u- 1a c 1"- Lnu b1·<a '"l O'•' cluck , and some of tho ducldmgs as they grew up assumed the plumage of tho wild duck . ·with resp ct to Penguins, I have not seen. many spemroen.s, and none wore coloured pl'CCiS ly like the W1lcl duck; but. s.Ir James Brooke sout me three skins from Lombok and Bah, m the Malayan archipelago; the two females ~ore p~ler an~ more rufous thau tho wil<l duck, and tho drake differed m h.avmg tlJe whole under and upper snrf<tee (excepting. the no~k, tml-cov~rts, tail, and wings) silver-grey, finely pencilled w1th .dark lmos, elosely like certain parts of th~ ph:mag~ of the wild mal~arcl. But I found this drake to be 1dcnt1 ·a] m every feather w1th. a variety of tho common brceu procured from. a. farm-y~rd m Kent and I have ocea. ionally elsewhere soon similar speCimens. The 'occurr nee of a duck Lred und r so peculiar a climate as that of the Malayan archipelago, where the wild species does not exist, with exactly the same plumage as may occasionally be seen in our farm-yards, is a fact worth no6ce. Neverthele!is tho climate of the Malayan archipelago apparently does tend to cause the duck to vary much, for Zollingor,'2 peaking of the Penguin breed, says that in Lombok "tltere is ~n unusual a?d very wonderful variety of ducks." One P ngum drake whiCh I kept alive differed from those of which tho skins .wore .sent me from Lombok, in having its breast and back partmlly coloured with chesnut-brown, thus more closely resembling the 1\iallarcl. From those several facts, more especially from the drakes of all the broods having curled tail-feather.', and from certain sub-varieties in each breed occasionally resembling in general 11 ' Poultry Chronicle,' 1855, vol. iii. p. 512. 1 ~ 'Journal of the Indian Archipelago,' vol. v. p. tl34. Cu.\P. Vlll. EXTERNAL DIFFERENCES. 281 plumage tho wild duck, we may conclude with confidence that all the breeds are descended from A. boscltas. I will now notice some of the peculiarities characteristic of the several breeds. The eggs vary in colom; some common ducks laying palegreenish and others quite white eggs. The eggs which are fiist laid clming each season by the black Labrador cluck, arc tinted black, as if rubbed with ink. So that with clucks, as with poultry, some clcp·ec of correlation exists between the colour of the plumage and the egg-shell. A good observer assured me that one year his Labrador ducks laid almost perfectly white eggs, but that the yolks were this same season dirty olive-green, instead of as usual of a golden yellow, so that the black tint appeared to have passed inwards. Another cmious case shows what singular variations sometimes occm and arc inherited; Mr. Hansell13 relates that he had a common duck which always laid eggs with the yolk of a dark-brown colom like melted glue; and the young ducks, hatched from the c eggs, laid the same kind of eggs, so that the breed had to be destroyed. The hook-billed duck has a most remarkable appearance (see fig. of skull, woodcut No. 39); and its peculiar beak has been inherited at least since the year lG7G. 'l'his structure is evidently analogous with that described in the Bagadottcn carrier pigeon. Mr. Brent 14 says that, when hook-biUcd ducks arc crossed with common ducks, "many young ones arc produced with the upper mandible shorter than the lower, which not Ullfrcqucntly causes the death of the bird." A tuft of feathers on the hcttcl is by no means a rare occmrcnce; namely, in tho true tufted breed, tho hook-billed, the common farmyard duck, and in a duck having no other peculiarity which was sent to me from the Malayan archipelago. Tho tuft is only so far interesting as it affects the skull, which is thus rendered slightly more globular, and is perforated by numerous apcrtmcs. Call-ducks arc remarkable from their extraordinary loquacity : tho drake only hisses like common drakes; ncvcrthclcss, when paired with the common duck, he transmits to his female offspring a strong quacking tendency. This loquacity seems at first a surprising character to have been acquil:cd under domestication. But the voice varies in the different breeds; Mr. Brent 15 says that book-billed ducks arc very loquacious, and that Rouens utter a " dull, loud, and monotonous cry, easily distinguishable by an experienced ear." As the loquacity of the Call-duck is highly serviceable, these birds being used in decoys, this quality may have been increased by selection. For instance, Colonel llawkcr says, if young wild-ducks cannot be got for a decoy," by way of make-shift, select tame birds which are the most clamorous even if their colour should not be like that of wild ones." 16 It has' been 13 'The Zoolo;;ist,' vols. vii., viii. (18-.H.H '50, p. 2iJ53. 1-1 ·Poultry Chronicle,' 1855, vol. iii. p. 512. 15 'Pou!Lry Chro11idc,' vol. iii., 1855, p. 312. With respect to Houens, see ditto, vol. i., 1854, p. 1G7. 16 Col. Hawker's 'Instruction!:! to young 'portsmcn,' quoted by Mr. Dixo11 in his 'Ornamental Poultry,' p. 125. |