"A more magnificently clothed bird," says Wood, "than the male Chinese
Mandarin Duck, can hardly be found, when in health and full nuptial
plumage. They are natives of China and Japan, and are held in such high
esteem by the Chinese that they can hardly be obtained at any price, the
natives having a singular dislike to seeing the birds pass into the
possession of Europeans."
Though web-footed, the birds have the power of perching and it is
a curious sight to watch them on the branches of trees overhanging
the pond in which they live, the male and female being always close
together, the one gorgeous in purple, green, white, and chestnut, and
the other soberly appareled in brown and grey. This handsome plumage
the male loses during four months of the year, from May to August, when
he throws off his fine crest, his wing-fans, and all his brilliant
colors, assuming the sober tinted dress of his mate. The Summer Duck of
America bears a close resemblance to the Mandarin Duck, both in plumage
and manners, and at certain times of the year is hardly to be
distinguished from that bird.
The foreign duck has been successfully reared in Zoological Gardens,
some being hatched under the parent bird and others under a domestic
hen, the latter hatching the eggs three days in advance of the former.
"The Chinese," says Dr. Bennett, "highly esteem the Mandarin Duck, which
exhibits, as they think, a most striking example of conjugal attachment
and fidelity. A pair of them are frequently placed in a gaily decorated
cage and carried in their marriage processions, to be presented to the
bride and groom as worthy objects of emulation."
"I could more easily," wrote a friend of Dr. Bennett's in China to whom
he had expressed his desire for a pair of these birds, "send you two
live Mandarins than a pair of Mandarin Ducks."
Concerning their attachment and fidelity to one another, Dr. Bennett
recites the following:
"Mr. Beale's aviary at Maceo one day was broken open and the male bird
stolen from the side of its mate. She refused to be comforted, and,
retiring to the farthest part of the aviary, sat disconsolate, rarely
partaking of food, and giving no attention to her soiled and rumpled
plumage. In vain did another handsome drake endeavor to console her for
her loss. After some time the stolen bird was found in the quarters of
a miserable Chinaman, and at once restored to its mate. As soon as he
recognized his abode he began to flap his wings and quack vehemently.
She heard his voice and almost quacked to screaming with ecstasy, both
expressing their joy by crossing necks and quacking in concert. The next
morning he fell upon the unfortunate drake who had made consolatory
advances to his mate, pecked out his eyes and so injured him that the
poor fellow died in the course of a few days."
According to Schrenck, this species appears in the countries watered by
the Amoor about May, and departs again at the end of August; at this
season it is always met with in small or large flocks, which are so
extremely shy that they rarely come within gunshot. Whilst on the wing
these parties crowd closely together in front, the birds in the rear
occupying a comparatively free space.