(_Æx galerita_)
The male of the mandarin duck--the mandarin drake, as it should
properly be called--looks so essentially Chinese that one would almost
intuitively guess that it came from China. Nevertheless, it has a
near relative, and the only other member of the same genus, in North
America, where it is represented by the summer duck (_Æx sponsa_). In
this distribution these painted ducks, as they have not inaptly been
called, resemble several other groups of animals, such as the true
alligators (_Alligator_) and the spoonbeaked sturgeons (_Polyodon_ and
_Psephurus_), each of which has one North American and one Chinese
species, although the American and Asiatic spoonbeaked sturgeons are
referred to separate genera.
Ducks, it may be mentioned, are divided into two distinct
sections--namely, the swimming ducks and the diving ducks; the mandarin
duck and its American relative belonging to the former section, of
which they form a special group, characterised by the ornate plumage of
the drakes, and particularly by the broad ornamental feathers on the
shoulders and the elongated plumes on the head, which form a kind of
helmet, with a large flange extending backwards over the neck.
The mandarin drake is specially distinguished from the male of the
summer duck by possessing a ruff on the neck formed of elongated,
narrow, chestnut feathers streaked with whitish, and a chestnut and
black “fan” rising up in a kind of tiger’s-claw shape on each side of
the hind end of the body, and mainly formed by the broad innermost
secondary feather of the wing; the helmet being copper-coloured,
purple, and green, and separated by a broad white band enclosing the
eye from the chestnut throat-ruff, while the beak is reddish brown. The
other details of colour and pattern are sufficiently apparent in the
illustration.
This gorgeous breeding-livery is, however, worn only during a portion
of the year. For four months--namely, from June till September--the
mandarin drake is a very ordinary-looking bird, clothed in a greyish
dress, which in autumn gives place, by a second moult, to the
breeding-livery, the latter lasting till the following summer. When the
drake is in the non-breeding plumage, it is mainly distinguishable from
the duck by its somewhat superior size. The colour of the female is
chiefly grey, relieved with brown and white.
The distributional area of the mandarin duck includes northern China,
Japan, and Amurland; but the species appears to be nowhere common,
and in most districts is decidedly rare. In China these ducks, which
are regarded as semi-sacred birds, are highly valued, and are kept in
cages.
[Illustration]
Unlike the majority of the duck tribe, both the mandarin and the summer
duck are in the habit of perching on the branches of trees, and make
their nests in holes either in the branches or trunk. In this perching
habit they resemble the tree-ducks of the genus _Dendrocycna_. After
lining the hole with a plentiful supply of feathers, down, and other
soft material, the female lays a clutch of from seven to fifteen eggs.
These she incubates herself, carefully covering them up with down every
time she leaves the nest; and she likewise takes sole charge of the
ducklings, from the time they are hatched till they are able to shift
for themselves. When, as is frequently the case, the nest is situated
over water, the ducklings throw themselves down into the water very
soon after they are hatched, but in other instances they are carried in
the beaks of their parents, as is the case with those of the ordinary
wild duck when the nest is built above the level of the ground.
The food of these ducks, like that of many other members of the
tribe, includes insects, worms, water-snails, young frogs, and other
water-animals, together with the leaves and young shoots of various
kinds of water-plants.
The mandarin duck is an active and untiring bird, moving quickly on
the ground, and flying easily and rapidly into trees, where it flits
from bough to bough with the ease and assurance of a wood-pigeon. It
lives and breeds well in confinement, and may be seen in nearly all
zoological gardens, as well as on many ornamental waters.
In the summer duck, which is a native of North America and Cuba, but
occasionally wanders to Jamaica and the Bermudas, the colour of the
upper-parts of the male in the breeding-dress is chiefly glossy green,
with the cheeks purple, and black patches on the neck, and white
stripes on both the head and neck. The wing-coverts are partly blue,
the flanks are brown, black, and white, while the breast is chestnut
spotted with white, and the rest of the under-parts white; the beak
being a mixture of black, white, purplish, yellow, and scarlet, and the
feet yellow.