The Mallard, or Wild duck (Anas platyrhynchos), probably the best-known and most recognizable of all ducks, is a dabbling duck which breeds throughout the temperate and sub-tropical Americas, Europe, Asia, New Zealand (where it is currently the most common duck species), and Australia.

The male birds have a bright green head, while the female's is light brown. The Mallard lives in wetlands, eats water plants, and is gregarious. It is also migratory. The Mallard is the ancestor of all domestic ducks, and can interbreed with other species of genus Anas. This interbreeding is causing rarer species of ducks to become genetically diluted.

The Mallard is 56–65 centimetres (22–26 in) long, has a wingspan of 81–98 centimetres (32–39 in), and weighs 0.9–1.2 kilograms (32–42 oz). The breeding male is unmistakable, with a bright green head, black rear end and a yellowish orange (can also contain some red) bill tipped with black (as opposed to the dark brown bill in females), and is also nature's most feared duck. The female Mallard is light brown, like most female dabbling ducks. However, both the female and male Mallards have distinct purple speculum edged with white, prominent in flight or at rest (though temporarily shed during the annual summer moult). In non-breeding (eclipse) plumage the drake becomes drab, looking more like the female, but still distinguishable by its yellow bill and reddish breast.

In captivity, domestic ducks come in wild-type plumages, white, and other colours. Most of these colour variants are also known in domestic Mallards not bred as livestock, but kept as pets, aviary birds, etc., where they are rare but increasing in availability.

A noisy species, the male has a nasal call, the female has a "quack" stereotypically associated with ducks.

The Mallard is a rare example of both Allen's Rule and Bergmann's Rule in birds. Bergmann's Rule, which states that polar forms tend to be larger than related ones from warmer climates, has numerous examples in birds. Allen's Rule says that appendages like ears tend to be smaller in polar forms to minimize heat loss, and larger in tropical and desert equivalents to facilitate heat diffusion, and that the polar taxa are stockier overall. Examples of this rule in birds are rare, as they lack external ears. However, the bill of ducks is very well supplied with blood vessels and is vulnerable to cold.

Conjuring up Spirits. Been dabbling with a bit of light painting...

Jefferson Churchill

Migidoll LE River

Faceup by Me

Outfit from eBay

Large Atlantic Noble Triton Trumpet shell (The description Charonia Nobilis does not actually exist) about a foot long. I'm giving serious consideration to turning this shell into a horn. As a teenager I dabbled at playing the French horn, a one valve bugle in a Boy Scout/Legion marching band and a trumpet in high school. This would have a totally different aesthetic.

www.flickr.com/photos/21728045@N08/32538981152/in/photoli...

www.flickr.com/photos/internetarchivebookimages/148021776...

www.flickr.com/photos/internetarchivebookimages/147468078...

www.flickr.com/photos/internetarchivebookimages/147445304...

SOME BASICS ON SHELL TRUMPETS

AND SOME VERY BASICS ON HOW TO MAKE THEM

By Mitchell Clark © 1996

Two views of an end-blown shell trumpet made by the author from a Cassis cornuta ("horned helmet"); length 8 1/4"; pitch B3 (open) or A3 (hand-stopped).

At the request of the editor of Experimental Musical Instruments, to whom I once casually mentioned that I had made a few shell trumpets, I will write something about the process of making such an instrument. But, to the possible disappointment of the editor, there's not an awful lot for me to say about their construction, as the simple forms of shell trumpets are quite easy to make. So, in the style of an entry in a cookbook where the author gives lots of history, lore, and anecdotes, and then finally gets down to the recipe, somewhere in what follows are some basic instructions for making shell trumpets. Endnotes - often referring to illustrations which may be consulted in other sources - are included, and contribute additional texture.

I'll start by saying that when I was young, I knew about shell trumpets but obviously did not quite understand the principle of how they worked. I thought that no alteration was made to a conch's shell, which I thought was very beautiful and that it would be a shame to deface it. Rather, it seemed that getting the shell to sound was a matter simply of blowing very, very, very hard. Fortunately I did not rupture any blood vessels trying out this theory.1

But the shell trumpet (an instrument in the domain of study of the organologist) has indeed been altered from the animal's natural shell (a natural object in the domain of study of the conchologist) in such a way that would make life uncomfortable for the actual mollusk itself (an animal in the domain of study of the malacologist) - that is, a hole's been poked in the shell. A shell trumpet will obviously have to made after the mollusk has (willingly or unwillingly) vacated.

There are two basic places this hole may be placed, and so there are two basic approaches that can be taken for making a conch shell into a shell trumpet. A hole is made either at the apex (the tip of the spire) of the shell, or, alternatively, in one of the whorls to the side of the spire. The mouth hole may be at the apex if the spire is shallow, as on a Strombus gigas ("queen conch" or "pink conch," common in the Caribbean), 2 Cassis cornuta ("horned helmet," found in the Indo-Pacific region), or Cassis tuberosa ("king helmet," found in the Caribbean). The mouth hole may be on the side of the spire if the spire is more steep, as on a Charonia tritonis ("Triton's trumpet," distributed throughout most of the tropical Pacific and Indian Oceans). In some cases the hole itself forms the mouth hole; in others, a mouthpiece is added. Mouthpieces seem to be a matter of what tradition has evolved, as sometimes the same species of shell may be found with or without a mouthpiece. For instance, a variety of approaches will be found with Charonia tritonis. In Polynesia, a mouth hole cut into the side of the spire is the norm. 3 Occasionally a side-blown tritonis will have a mouthpiece added, as found in the Marquesas Islands; 4 this appears to be a rare arrangement. Concerning end-blown tritonis, on the Hawaiian pu 5 and on the Korean na, 6 a mouth hole is cut into the apex. On the Japanese hora, the tritonis (called horagai) is given a mouthpiece, placed at the apex. 7 Other shells used for trumpets usually have the hole in the apex, with a mouthpiece or (perhaps more commonly) without.

The qualities of sounds which shell trumpets can produce are varied, and also layered in the meanings and responses such sounds evoke. As children we learn of one of the poetic associations of shells - that if you hold a conch shell to your ear, you will hear (however far away from the coastline you may be) the sound of the sea. 8 Yes, perhaps it is indeed the air column enclosed by the shell filtering the ambient level of noise to create a faint roaring sound. But the association of shells with water, and the sea especially, is also at the basis of the many of the ceremonial uses of shell trumpets around the world. Shell trumpets have often been used at great distances from the sea, and this has contributed to the sacredness of their sounds. Thus the hearing the of sea in a shell may be a vestige of these older, profound associations. Shell trumpets produce a profound sound in every sense of the word - there is a sense of the sound coming from the deep past. This is both true as regards the actual antiquity of the use of shell trumpets, which dates to the Neolithic era, 9 and in the very shell itself. The apex of a univalve gastropod such as a conch or a snail is the oldest part of the shell (the place where the young animal started growing): in blowing a shell trumpet the sound is passing from the oldest place to the youngest - from the past towards the present.

Concerning this antiquity of the use of shell trumpets, the etymologist Eric Partridge puts forth the idea that the word "conch" may be of echoic - that is, onomatopoeic - origin. 10 Echoic, I suppose, of the sound of the blast of a shell trumpet, and thus - given the early Greek roots of the work "conch" - indicating the great antiquity of their use. A common term applied in a number of parts of Polynesia to the shell trumpet - pu - would certainly also seem, in its own way, to be echoic.

The most common use of shell trumpets in many parts of the world - and they have a remarkably wide distribution - is as a signaling device. A shell trumpet may announce curfew in Samoa, or announce that fresh fish is for sale in Fiji, or may serve as a foghorn on the Mediterranean. The shell trumpet often has a magical role in relation to weather. It may be used on the one hand be used to calm rough seas, or on the other to summon wind when seas are becalmed. 11 Shell trumpets are also used in musical contexts, most often in conjunction with ritual. The Indian shanka has held a place in the Hindu religion for millennia. There it may be used as a ritual vessel as well as a trumpet. 12 The shanka is also of significance in Buddhism, where, besides its musical uses, it figures importantly into Buddhist iconography. Befitting their role in Tibetan ritual music, where they are called dung-dkar, shell trumpets made from shanka receive detailed decoration, with carving on the surface of the shell itself and with added ornamentation in metal and semi-precious stone. 13 Shell trumpets were also important ritual instruments in Pre-Columbian South and Central America and in Minoan Crete. In these latter areas, skeuomorphic reproductions ("the substitution of products of craftsmanship for components or objects of natural origin") of shell trumpets, in ceramic and stone, are found archaeologically. The details of their exact purposes remain a mystery. 14 Generally a shell trumpet is used to produce one note; harmonics are possible but seldom utilized. One exception is the Japanese hora, where three, sometimes even four, pitches of the harmonic series may be employed. 15 On the end-blown Fijian shell trumpet made from the Bursa bubo ("giant frog shell"), there is a fingerhole which will allow for a whole-tone change in pitch. 16 Shell trumpets with several fingerholes have also been explored. 17 Occasionally pitch is modified by the player inserting his or her hand into the aperture. Although shell trumpets would seem to lend themselves to being played in a musical context in homogenous ensembles, along the lines of ensembles of panpipes and stamping tubes in Oceania (particularly Melanesia), such an approach is actually very rare. Tonga (in Polynesia) is the only place where conch ensembles have been found, and then only in the more remote areas (some of the northern islands) and only in a few musical contexts (for recreation and for cricket matches). 18 In contemporary music and jazz, however, ensembles of shell trumpets have been used by trombonists Stuart Dempster and Steve Turre.

Now, to get to work. I've made a few shell trumpets with the mouth-hole at the apex. A simple basic recipe is:

Ingredients:

The shell of a large univalve gastropod

A file

Jeweler's files for finishing work (optional)

Procedure:

File off the tip of the spire.

Smooth out the perimeter of the hole (optional).

That's it. But to be more specific: from my experience, for making a shell trumpet it seems that a conch of some size - something like seven inches or greater in length - is needed. My attempt at making an instrument with the shell of a young Strombus gigas (perhaps 5-6 inches long) did not work out: I just couldn't get a sound out of the thing. Perhaps a smaller shell such as that might work with a mouthpiece. I've made end-blown trumpets from Cassis cornuta (my shell of choice; see photos above), Cassis tuberosa, and adult Strombus gigas. My construction approach with the Cassis has been to file off the tip with an 8" mill bastard file and a lot of elbow grease, getting it to the point where the opening is about 5/8" in diameter. With the jeweler's files, I'll smooth down the insides of the opening. For a Strombus gigas, which has a steeper spire, I first cut off an inch or so of the tip with a saw, and then proceeded as with the Cassis.

It is certainly possible to get the job done more quickly. A friend once made a trumpet from a Strombus gigas by forcibly breaking off the tip - he's a percussionist - with little or no filing. In this case, it appears that the irregularities of the edges of the mouth-hole allowed for a more pronounced array of upper partials to the shell trumpet's tone. To remove the tip of a Strombus gigas, D.Z. Crookes (describing the process in his "How to make a shelly hautbois") supported the shell's tip "on an anvil, and nipped it off with a cold chisel," later carving a "half-civilized" mouthpiece. 19 I suppose one could also use a power grinder or sander to quickly get through the early stage on a Cassis, for instance, but I think a couple of hours or so of manual filing is not too big a price to pay (however, see photo below). Of course, being physically involved with the stages of the manufacture of a shell trumpet, as with any musical instrument, increases one's connection with the instrument and its sounds.

As regards side-blown shell trumpets, I've made one, from a Charonia tritonis (see photo below). For such a shell, a basic recipe could be:

Ingredients:

The shell of a large conch with a steep spire, especially a Charonia tritonis

A drill

Jeweler's files for expanding the hole and for finishing work

Procedure:

Drill a small hole into the side of the spire.

Expand the size of the hole and smooth out the edges.

Again, a little more detail. I placed the hole in the second whorl out from, and on the same side of the spire as, the aperture. With this arrangement the aperture faces backwards from the player when the trumpet is played. I used photographs of side-blown Charonia tritonis as my guide. 20 I used a drill bit of about l/8" diameter to get the hole started and then followed with a 1/4" bit. I expanded the hole to about 5/8" with a half-round jeweler's file. A larger rat-tail file would also be possible (although one needs to be careful of a bulkier tool damaging the interior of the shell), before following up with the jeweler's file.

Although I've made a few shell trumpets, I have not yet made musical use of them in any concerted way. I do have a piece - forthcoming in my series of Anthems for ensembles of "peacefully co-existing" sustained sounds - for a plurality of shell trumpets and pre-recorded tape. Also, when you've got a shell trumpet around, blowing it every once in a while does impress neighbors and passers-by alike.

Again, these are the most basic of recipes. I look forward to other writers who have more background in the individual traditions of these instruments, and who are more acquainted with the acoustics and detailed construction, 21 to contribute further on the subject of these fascinating instruments.

END NOTES:

1. Despite the fact that a large conch does need to be modified to make a trumpet, a small snail shell can be used, unmodified, as a whistle. An intact snail shell is essentially a stopped pipe, and if the aperture is of an appropriate size - so the player is able to create an embouchure - the shell can be an effective whistle. Unaltered large conch shells filled with water were used for their gurgling sounds by John Cage in his pieces Inlets (1977, which also makes use of a shell trumpet) and Two3 (1991, which also includes a Japanese shô reed organ). A single such large water-filled conch was used by the present author in his "concerning an aspect..." (1988). Return to text

2. In general usage, the word "conch" is used to describe large spiral univalve gastropods even when it is not referring to what is, strictly speaking, a conch (the "true conchs" are members of the genus Strombus). This seems to be especially true in relation to shell trumpets, where the term "conch trumpet" is used quite freely. Return to text

3. See Richard M. Moyle, Polynesian Sound-producing Instruments (Princes Risborough, England: Shire Publications, 1990), 39 and figure 25, which shows several side-blown tritonis being played in Tonga. Return to text

4. Richard M. Moyle, Polynesian Sound-producing Instruments, 39 and lower portion of figure 23. Return to text

5. Te Rangi Hiroa (Peter H. Buck), Arts and Crafts of Hawaii, IX: Musical Instruments (Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press, 1957, reprinted 1964), figure 256a. Return to text

6. See Chang Sa-hun, Uri yet Akki ("Our Traditional Musical Instruments"; Seoul: Daewonsa, 1990), 31. Return to text

7. See Hajime Fukui, "The Hora (Conch Trumpet) of Japan" in Galpin Society Journal 47 (1994): 47-62, where several photographs and a diagram of the mouthpiece are shown. For a full-size color photograph of a hora, see Jane Fearer Safer and Frances McLaughlin Gill, Spirals from the Sea: An Anthropological look at Shells (New York: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc., 1982), 174-5. Concerning the hora, one of its less-documented uses is in a rite called Shunie associated with the Tôdai-ji Temple in Nara (see Hajime Fukui's essay, 52). A shell-trumpet ensemble portion of the Shunie can be heard on the album Harmony of Japanese Music, mentioned in the attached discography. Return to text

8. Note that terminology relating to the human ear is rich in shell imagery. The cochlea (a Latin word derived from the Greek kokhlos, land snail) is the spiral, shell-shaped portion of the inner ear which transmits the signals to the brain which are interpreted as sound. As a word referring to a shell-like structure, concha (from the Greek konkhe - a shell-bearing mollusk in general - which, via Latin, is the ancestral form of "conch") is a term used to describe the human external ear, also known as pinna. And pinna, from the Latin word for "wing" or "feather," is also the name for a genus of large - and wing- or feather-shaped - bivalve mollusks (family Pinnidae). Return to text

9. John M. Schechter and Mervyn McLean, "Conch-shell trumpet" in Stanley Sadie, ed., The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments (London: Macmillan. 1954), I:461. Note that it is conjectured that the earliest use of the instrument was as a voice modifier - a megaphone of sorts. Return to text

10. Eric Partridge, Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English (2nd edition, New York: MacMillan, 1959), 114. Note especially one Middle English spelling, conk. Return to text

11. A recorded example of the former, from Chuuk, Micronesia, is included on the album Spirit of Micronesia, mentioned in the attached discography. The latter is mentioned in the entry for the shell trumpet ntuantuangi, of the Poso Toradja of Celebes, in Sibyl Marcuse, Musical Instruments: A Comprehensive Dictionary (2nd edition, New York & London: W.W. Norton & Co., 1975), 368. Return to text

12. Note that the Sanskrit word shanka (which may be romanized in various ways, with or without diacritics; the English common name for the shell is "chank") does share the same Indo-European root as konkhe, and ultimately, "conch." The Latin scientific name for the shanka is Turbinella pyrum. Return to text

13. See Safer and Gill, Spirals from the Sea, 176-7, for two views of a specimen dated 1400. Return to text

14. Jeremy Montagu, "The conch in prehistory: pottery, stone and natural" in World Archaeology 12/3 (1981): 273-9, which focuses on these shell-trumpet skeuomorphs. Return to text

15. Hajime Fukui "The Hora (Conch Trumpet) of Japan," 51-2. Return to text

16. Moyle, Polynesian Sound-producing Instruments, 39 and figure 24. Return to text

17. See D.Z. Crookes, "How to make a shelly hautbois" in FoMRHI Quarterly 80 (July 1995): 43, where he experiments with up to seven (?) fingerholes on Strombus gigas. Return to text

18. Richard M. Moyle, "Conch Ensemble: Tonga's Unique Contribution to Polynesian Organology" in Galpin Society Journal 28 (1975): 98-106. Also, his Polynesian Sound-producing Instruments, 41-2 and figure 25. Ensembles of three to seven, or more, side-blown Charonia tritonis are used. Return to text

19. Crookes, "How to make a shelly hautbois," 43. Return to text

20. For instance, Eric Metzgar, Arts of Micronesia (Long Beach, Calif.: FHP Hippodrome Gallery, 1987 {exhibition catalogue}), figure G, and Safer and Gill, Spirals from the Sea, 168. Return to text

21. See Montagu, "The conch in prehistory: pottery, stone and natural," 274-5, for a brief discussion of shell-trumpet acoustics which outlines some of the basic issues. Concerning shell-trumpet construction, note that Hajime Fukui's "The Hora (Conch Trumpet) of Japan" goes into a great amount of detail concerning making this particular instrument. Return to text

SOME SHELL TRUMPET DISCOGRAPHY

Following is a handful of recordings including shell trumpets. Occasionally, recordings of shell trumpets will appear on collections of music from Oceania. An example is Spirit of Micronesia (Saydisc CD-SDL 414), which includes a conche (note this alternate spelling) introducing two chants (track 20) and a conche used for warding off storm clouds (track 22; a photo on page 20 of the booklet shows a player of a trumpet made from a Cassis species). Though brief, this latter track beautifully captures, against a backdrop of storm waves, the shell trumpet's evocative qualities. Pan Records' Fa'a-Samoa: The Samoan way... between conch shell and disco (PAN 2066CD) includes a recording (track 1) of a conch-shell pu being used to announce curfew; on track 13, an animal horn used for the same purpose is also called pu. (The "disco" of the title is actually a brass band performance.) Another album on Pan, Tuvalu: A Polynesian Atoll Society (PAN 2055CD), has an impressive photograph of a shell-trumpet player on the cover, but does not include any shell-trumpet recordings.

A Japanese Buddhist ritual-music use of shell trumpets - as part of O-Mizu Tori ("a water-drawing rite") of the Shunie rite at Tôdai-ji Temple, Nara - may be heard on Harmony of Japanese Music (King Records [Japan] KICH 2021).

Steve Turre's Sanctified Shells (Antilles 314 514 186-2) and Stuart Dempster's Underground Overlays from the Cistern Chapel (New Albion NA076) include some contemporary creative uses of shell trumpets in ensemble. Colin Offord's Pacific Sound (Move Records [Australia] MD 3 105) makes use of shell trumpets in ensemble with instruments of his own construction. Together with other sound-makers made of shells, a shell trumpet may be heard on the track "Sea Language" on The Art of Primitive Sound's Musical Instruments from Prehistory (Hic Sunt Leones [Italy] HSL 003).

Baoding Balls

An on-line description of one:

This Japanese vintage Samurai Horagai is a trumpet shell of yoroi, or armour. It is about 50 years old, and is like the real thing used during the age of the Samurai. It is made from a real trumpet shell like the shells we have had before and found in many oceans including the Pacific, this one being from Japan. A mouth piece had been attached and it can be used just like in the old days when it was used to communicate during wars. Horagai was used as a command and signal of the old times during Samurai battles. Now it is used for decorating armour.

Female mallard

We dabbled in Document Destruction for 6 short months from Feb-Aug 2010 but sold the company. 2008 Int with a shred tech box. The truck burned to the ground in Dec. three weeks before moving box to a new chassis. This citystar chassis is big problems and has been discontinued

Mallard ducks on the river Wallington in Fareham Hampshire. They are called Dabbling Ducks as they mostly feed off the top of the water and don't dive for food

Mallard ducks on the river Wallington in Fareham Hampshire. They are called Dabbling Ducks as they mostly feed off the top of the water and don't dive for food

Dabbling in the weeds.

Mallard ducks on the river Wallington in Fareham Hampshire. They are called Dabbling Ducks as they mostly feed off the top of the water and don't dive for food

A dabbling duck found in shallow ponds and wetlands. A long-distance migrant, it is one of the first to migrate in late summer. Some fly all the way to South America to winter. The oldest recorded Blue-winged Teal was a male, and at least 23 years, 3 months old. He had been banded in Saskatchewan and was found in Cuba.

Our beautiful world, pass it on.

Abbey Road, Great Massingham, Norfolk, UK. Originally called Rose & Crown until when it was closed in 2001 and then re-opened in 2006 as the Dabbling Duck.

All photographic images are the exclusive property of Paddy Ballard. The photographs are for web browser viewing only and may not be reproduced, copied, stored, downloaded or altered in any way without prior permission.

Joinkhaah "Maniac" Manneil is a currently–living Joiemgaw born on the twentieth day of the Ninth Cycle of Age 810 as the second child of a lower–middle–class family who took up the profession of mechanics and metalworking at a younger age than that at which most others of his race begin seriously dabbling in their eventual careers and quickly proved himself to be a prodigy in the field. Upon discovering this knack, Joinkhaah Manneil subsequently dedicated himself to his craft, improving his skills further and eventually rising through the ranks of society and above his fellow aspiring metalworkers until he, at the young age of twenty–four, had founded and successfully established his own private manufacturing corporation, Manneil Metallics. In the Fifth Cycle (the most active business season on Wegneheck) of Age 836, not long after its initial rise to prominence, Manneil Metallics was made an official partner of the greater, Prime Galaxy–wide Joiemgaw Media Corporation (specifically the mega–conglomerate's engineering branch), and Manneil himself an official major shareholder and executive of said corporation, placing him in the top ten percentiles within the top single percentile of the overall Joiemgaw population in terms of wealth, power and fame.

For the next few years, Joinkhaah Manneil lived in comfortable luxury and laziness, more–so than the average Joiemgaw in his position would, while his business continued to prosper and with the tycoon himself no longer doing any more manual work of his own since scoring the deal which had ensured that he would be set for life and eventually ceasing to even actively oversee his company's production processes. Then, during the exuberant celebration of his thirtieth birthday, Manneil experienced a traumatic brush with death. His party was crashed by a gunman, a vengeful close relative of a lower–class person who had been killed as a result of a faulty vehicle produced under the Manneil name, which the unfortunate victim, the nephew of the eventual gunman, had just barely been able to afford. The automobile had been produced subsequent to the point at which the company's founder, a self–made man who had initially gotten to where he was through hard work and dedication, had ceased all active participation in the production of his business' products. The attacker had previously sued Manneil Metallics for his nephew's death, but failed to get anyone convicted, to win any reparations and even to make the incident widely–known publicly, all due to the efforts of Manneil's quick–acting and highly corrupt lawyers and publicists, who had shot both the court case and the potential scandal down with Joinkhaah Manneil's only direct role in their actions being a proverbial rubber–stamping. Note that the gunman was, rather conveniently, "honorable" enough to announce his motives during the attack in just about as coherent a manner as one could while committing mass homicide, saving officials most of the trouble they would otherwise have had to go through to figure out said motives.

The resulting shootout left six dead, these fatalities consisting of the gunman plus five aristocratic clients of Manneil Metallics, and eight wounded, these injured including Manneil's older sister and Joinkhaah Manneil himself, both of whom were shot in the head and rendered comatose. Joinkhaah's sister, Splindink, with whom he was (and still tries to be) very close, remained unconscious for three cycles and, upon waking up, had suffered serious brain damage, including memory loss, from which she is unlikely to ever fully recover. Manneil himself, meanwhile, woke up a mere eight days after the attack, and was considered to have made a full recovery soon thereafter, but was in fact a greatly changed man. Shortly after learning all that had happened and returning to his then–nonexistent duties as head of Manneil Metallics, Joinkhaah delivered a public address announcing that he was now a born–again follower of God and would from this point onward personally work to restore consistent quality control to his company's products while abandoning and renouncing his previous hedonistic lifestyle that he believed had led to the recent tragedy.

Despite initial, widespread and understandable, given that the shooting had brought the incident which motivated the perpetrator, as well as the executive's recent history of laziness and carelessness, to public light, doubts and insinuations of the contrary, Manneil meant all of this. He would soon prove this by immediately reforming both his company and his own personal behaviors, returning to direct, manual metalworking to the point of working part–time in assembly lines alongside the lowliest of his employees, and never relapsing back into the negligent lack of input that had led to the accident which had led to the shooting that had led to his epiphany which had led to his present reform.

Now, the "story" of Joinkhaah Manneil could very well have ended, in regards to major events and contributions concerning him, right here, being a simple inspirational and heartwarming tale of redemption, etc.

It did not.

The wealthy Joiemgaw, in his efforts for atonement and self–reinvention, went much further than this, and indeed, further than anyone had initial reason to expect.

Starting in early Age 841, Manneil, a completely average specimen of his kind in terms of physical strength for most of his life up to this point and rather out–of–shape due to his laziness over the past few years which he had just recently given up, began practicing a self–imposed regimen of daily, heavy exercise which soon intensified further and escalated into bodybuilding. In time, his physical condition came to match his level of societal status; that is to say, it was now in the top fraction of the highest one percentile among all Joiemgaws, which are generally not known for physical prowess. Joinkhaah's personality also began to change further beyond its initial shift toward altruism, evolving into something arguably less purely good yet also arguably more actively heroic and inarguably more awesome. While becoming noticeably more eccentric and bombastic in public appearances, he began demanding that he be given total privacy while working in his studio, an activity which he seemed to spend more and more time doing daily with each passing twenty–four–hour period, and eventually declared the studio off–limits at all times to anyone and everyone but himself. Concurrently, many strange, large orders calling for various, often obscure and rare, supplies and raw materials were personally made and paid for in full by Manneil, whose publicists took efforts, this time on direct orders from their boss, to keep these orders on a low profile while the providers were likewise paid generous amounts of interest for not making news of them.

This strange behavior and secret activity continued, and somewhat escalated, for almost two years, throughout which Joinkhaah Manneil, in spite of all the strange – downright suspicious, even – things he was now doing on the side, still ran and oversaw the core operations of his business just as he had promised he always would; he had become an extraordinarily busy and active man. Public rumors of him going insane or even planning some violent atrocity such as a bombing made the typical rounds that most rumors do during this period of time, but these never gained enough leverage to receive significant media attention or warrant any official investigations of Manneil's person and property.

The truth was finally revealed, unveiled by Manneil himself, on his own thirty–second birthday. The date of his birth now being shared with that of the tragedy that had altered his life and several others', it had seemed that any and all future celebrations of Joinkhaah Manneil's birthday would be tainted by memories of the shooting, and indeed, he himself had wisely refrained from holding any public festivities on his thirty–first birthday, A.K.A. the shooting's first anniversary. For his "sweet sixteen–times–two", however, he appeared to be "making up" for this, preparing a bigger party than any he had previously thrown and inviting more people than ever before, even including some low–level manual workers of Manneil Metallics whom he had chosen based on a raffle. When the eve of Manneil's birthday and of the party arrived, the turnout was disappointing, with many of those invited failing to show up, in most cases due to bad memories regarding the shooting two years ago, concerns regarding the host's strange behavior and reclusive activities as of late, or a combination of both factors. This, however, did not discourage Manneil from doing his best to thrill and wow those who did attend with the reveal of the bonafide arsenal of personalized, optimally–modified munitions, equipment and conveyances that he had created for use in his coming adventures.

As he explained both to those relative few who were there to see the initial, formal unveiling and to a wider audience in a public announcement the following day, Joinkhaah Manneil had been inspired by the recent "superhero" movement, the foundations of which had been laid by the Mulshian Fire–Egg starting roughly one hundred years prior, and intended to join in on it, having planned to do so since shortly after his initial post–coma epiphany but only now being fully prepared to begin his heroic endeavors in earnest. He had spent the majority of the past two–year period drafting, crafting and perfecting the array of equipment he would now make use of as a galaxy–traveling noble mercenary whose deeds would better the name and reputation of Joiemgaw–kind and whose earnings would all go towards Manneil Metallics' production funds, further bolstering the company's reliability both practically and "symbolically".

Initial reactions to these announcements were, predictably, of a sentiment that can be accurately summarized with the following statement, which was printed word–for–word in multiple publications: "It is official: Manneil has lost it." Numerous Manneil Metallics shareholders began withdrawing their investments, while the company's general market performance started declining almost immediately. Joinkhaah's public appointment, in the form of a responsible up–and–coming businessman working in his field and being similar to how he himself had been as a younger man, of a potential successor in the case of his being killed while out adventuring, a scenario that the debuting hero–to–be considered unlikely and said as much of, did little to help the situation. Regardless, Manneil was not discouraged, and determined that he would prove those who doubted the feasibility of his being a viable adventurer wrong.

Surprisingly enough, he actually managed to follow through.

Since around the start of Age 843, Joinkhaah Manneil, whose preferred moniker in regards to his adventures is "Maniac Manneil", has been active as one of the Prime Galaxy's most prominent "superhero" mercenaries, and possibly the most successful and longest–operating non–mutant among the various adventurers that have taken after the example originally set by the Eggmen over the past century. To this day, he continues frequently touring both Wegneheck and various other venues throughout space, performing acts of bombastic, gadgetry–assisted heroism and using the money he demands and receives in exchange for his good deeds toward constructive purposes within his business, which he still manages competently, to continue ensuring that it remains the best, most stable and reliable company it can possibly be. Following its owner's initially surprising just about everyone by proving to be a capable interplanetary champion and not getting killed, Manneil Metallics rose back up from the pits of recession almost as quickly as it had fallen into them in the wake of the widespread belief that said owner had gone completely insane, and has continued flourishing ever since. Maniac Manneil's heroics have also helped improve the long–dubious reputation of Joiemgaws in general in the eyes of many other peoples, which was another stated original goal of his. He has killed more than one hundred people, all of them violent criminals, grievously injured several hundred more, almost all of them violent criminals, and verifiably saved several thousand lives while never killing a single innocent and only ever injuring a few, each of whom he has voluntarily paid massive reparations to. On a related note, there has never been another fatal accident involving a Manneil Metallics machine that has been deemed to be the fault of the company rather than of any user since the deadly automobile malfunction which led to the fateful birthday shooting.

Manneil has, in his case unfortunately, inspired several other Joiemgaws, all of considerably lesser wealth and skill than he, to attempt imitating him without undergoing the same long–term preparations and training firsthand and without having access to the same caliber of equipment, resulting in most of these copycats being swiftly and ignominiously slain in the field of action. The man himself, though, has always made clear his disapproval of those who would emulate his extremely dangerous activities, stressing repeatedly that what he does has required, and continues to require, years of dedicated, hard work, genuine passion and top–notch resources, a notion that the two years he spent training and preparing for his superhero career before actually starting it can always attest to. Today, Maniac Manneil is still considered to be the only "true" Joiemgaw superhero out there, and he is also considered the most famous Joiemgaw currently alive as well as one of several roughly equal contenders for the distinction of being the wealthiest member of his kind, with his estimated net worth being more than 100,000,000,000 Galactic Common.

Very recently (that is, within the past three years), it has been theorized more widely than ever before that Joinkhaah "Maniac" Manneil's eventual transformation from the corrupt and slothful executive he had become during the years leading up to the shooting that changed his life forever into the audacious, muscular adventurer he is known as today may have been the result not only of epiphany but of a form of brain damage resulting from the piece of shrapnel that had entered his head and whose effects came with a delay. In other words, more and more evidence seems to suggest as of late that he really is insane in at least some form. Maniac Manneil himself has been informed of this possibility, but has dismissed it – not as untrue, necessarily, but as irrelevant. He maintains a strong sense of pride for the way he is now, believing his current way of life as a hero–for–hire to be the destined and ultimate realization of his potential as a person and stating that even if trauma–induced mania is involved, few can argue against the notion that the end result has ultimately changed him for the better and is, furthermore and in Manneil's own words, "totally cool, awesome and badass".

And indeed, one would be hard–pressed to find any significant number of people who would argue against that notion.

• On Maniac Manneil's arsenal of equipment that he relies upon throughout his heroic exploits, it was, again, all personally built by him over a period of roughly two years and utilizing levels of technology so advanced and materials so top–quality that the resulting creations could never be viably mass–produced due to being too costly and time–consuming to make. His array of paraphernalia includes various weapons, both lethal and somewhat less–lethal, specialized armors with features such as heat–resistance and water–breathing apparatuses, gadgets for almost any situation, such as infrared and X–ray goggles, automatic door–unlocking devices and a jetpack, and multiple vehicles. Most of these items are based in some way upon the foundations of previously–existing technologies, though Manneil's versions are, without exception, all personalized in some unique way and altogether functionally superior to their original, more common counterparts. There are a few exceptions; that is, completely original and unique creations of Maniac Manneil, however, and the most notable of these is the machine that is considered the mercenary's signature vehicle and "trump card" and which has been selected from among all the items in his armory to be showcased here alongside the man himself.

This machine is the "Mannserker", a three–story–tall armored tank with the rough likeness of a very angry–looking Joiemgaw. This heavily–armed battle mech sports what Joinkhaah refers to as a "composite" aesthetic design, with his biggest source of inspiration while designing it and its "face" in particular coming from his sister, Splindink, whose initial awakening from her coma had overjoyed him, even with her being in a mentally incomplete state, and helped give him the initiative to fully commit himself to his until–then–only–contemplated pursuit of a greater, grander purpose in life. While incorporating elements of his sister's visage into the tank's appearance, though, Manneil did not directly model the Mannserker's Joiemgaw likenesses on Splindink alone, instead opting to give the machine a more unique, "independent" appearance that also incorporated some of his own features as well as a few "random" creative details not specifically borrowed from anyone or anything in particular.

Joinkhaah Manneil currently continues to keep the designs and blueprints for all of his equipment, including and especially the Mannserker, strictly classified to everyone besides himself, and has said numerous times that the secrets to replicating his powerful creations will not be made available to any outside party until after he is dead.

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The mallard (/ˈmælɑːrd/ or /ˈmælərd/) or wild duck (Anas platyrhynchos) is a dabbling duck which breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Eurasia, and North Africa, and has been introduced to New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, the Falkland Islands and South Africa.[2] This duck belongs to the subfamily Anatinae of the waterfowl family Anatidae.

The male birds (drakes) have a glossy green head and are grey on wings and belly, while the females (hens or ducks) have mainly brown-speckled plumage. Both sexes have an area of white-bordered black speculum feathers which commonly also include iridescent blue feathers especially among males. Mallards live in wetlands, eat water plants and small animals, and are social animals preferring to congregate in groups or flocks of varying sizes. This species is the main ancestor of most breeds of domesticated ducks.[3]

Taxonomy and Evolution:

The mallard was one of the many bird species originally described by Carl Linnaeus in his 18th-century work Systema Naturae, and still bears its original binomial name,[4] and in 1758, he had given it the scientific name Anas boschas.[5] The scientific name is from Latin Anas, "duck" and Ancient Greek platyrhynchus, "broad-billed" ( from platus, "broad" and rhunkhos, "bill").[6]

Mallard originally referred to any wild drake and it is sometimes still used this way.[7] It was derived from the Old French malart or mallart for "wild drake", although its true derivation is unclear.[8] It may be related to (or at least influenced by) an Old High German masculine proper name Madelhart, clues lying in the alternate English forms "maudelard" or "mawdelard".[9] Masle (male) has also been proposed as an influence.[10]

Mallards frequently interbreed with their closest relatives in the genus Anas, such as the American black duck, and also with species more distantly related, such as the northern pintail, leading to various hybrids that may be fully fertile.[11] This is quite unusual among such different species, and apparently is because the mallard evolved very rapidly and recently, during the Late Pleistocene.[12] The distinct lineages of this radiation are usually kept separate due to non-overlapping ranges and behavioural cues, but are still not fully genetically incompatible.[13] Mallards and their domesticated conspecifics are also fully interfertile.[14]

The genome of Anas platyrhynchos was sequenced in 2013.[15]

Certain mallards, by their divergent haplotype analysis, appear to be closer to their Indo-Pacific relatives, and certain others, to their American ones.[16] Considering mitochondrial DNA D-loop sequence data, they may have evolved in the general area of Siberia; mallard bones rather abruptly appear in food remains of ancient humans and other deposits of fossil bones in Europe, without a good candidate for a local predecessor species.[17] The large ice age palaeosubspecies which made up at least the European and west Asian populations during the Pleistocene has been named Anas platyrhynchos palaeoboschas.[18]

In their mitochondrial DNA, mallards are differentiated between North America and Eurasia;[19] however, in the nuclear genome there is a particular lack of genetic structure.[20] Haplotypes typical of American mallard relatives and spotbills can be found in mallards around the Bering Sea.[21] The Aleutian Islands hold a population of mallards that appear to be evolving towards a subspecies, as gene flow with other populations is very limited.[17]

The size of the mallard varies clinally, and birds from Greenland, although larger than birds further south, have smaller bills, paler plumage and are stockier.[22] They are sometimes separated as subspecies, the Greenland mallard (A. p. conboschas).[22]

Description:

The mallard is a medium-sized waterfowl species although it is often slightly heavier than most other dabbling ducks. It is 50–65 cm (20–26 in) long (of which the body makes up around two-thirds), has a wingspan of 81–98 cm (32–39 in),[24] and weighs 0.72–1.58 kg (1.6–3.5 lb).[25][26] Among standard measurements, the wing chord is 25.7 to 30.6 cm (10.1 to 12.0 in), the bill is 4.4 to 6.1 cm (1.7 to 2.4 in) and the tarsus is 4.1 to 4.8 cm (1.6 to 1.9 in).[27]

The breeding male mallard is unmistakable, with a glossy bottle-green head and white collar which demarcates the head from the purple-tinged brown breast, grey brown wings, and a pale grey belly.[28] The rear of the male is black, with the dark tail having white borders.[29] The bill of the male is a yellowish orange tipped with black, while that of the female is generally darker ranging from black to mottled orange.[30] The female mallard is predominantly mottled with each individual feather showing sharp contrast from buff to very dark brown, a coloration shared by most female dabbling ducks, and has buff cheeks, eyebrow, throat and neck with a darker crown and eye-stripe.[29]

Both male and female mallards have distinct iridescent purple blue speculum feathers edged with white, prominent in flight or at rest, though temporarily shed during the annual summer moult.[31] Upon hatching, the plumage colouring of the duckling is yellow on the underside and face (with streaks by the eyes) and black on the back (with some yellow spots) all the way to the top and back of the head.[32] Its legs and bill are also black.[32] As it nears a month in age, the duckling's plumage will start becoming drab, looking more like the female (though its plumage is more streaked) and its legs will lose their dark grey colouring.[29] Two months after hatching, the fledgling period has ended and the duckling is now a juvenile.[33] Between three and four months of age, the juvenile can finally begin flying, as its wings are fully developed for flight (which can be confirmed by the sight of purple speculum feathers). Its bill will soon lose its dark grey colouring and its sex can finally be distinguished visually by three factors. The bill colouring is yellow in males, black and orange for females.[34] The breast feathers are reddish-brown for males, brown for females.[34] The centre tail feather is curled for males (called a drake feather), straight for females.[34] During the final period of maturity leading up to adulthood (6–10 months of age), the plumage of female juveniles remains the same while the plumage of male juveniles slowly changes to its characteristic colours.[35] This plumage change also applies to adult mallard males when they transition in and out of their non-breeding eclipse plumage at the beginning and the end of the summer moulting period.[35] The adulthood age for mallards is 14 months and the average life expectancy is 3 years, but they can live to twenty.[36] Several species of duck have brown-plumaged females which can be confused with the female mallard.[37] The female gadwall (A. strepera) has an orange-lined bill, white belly, black and white speculum which is seen as a white square on the wings in flight, and is a smaller bird.[29] More similar to the female mallard in North America are the American black duck (A. rubripes), which is notably darker hued in both sexes than the mallard,[38] and the mottled duck (A. fulvigula), which is somewhat darker than the female mallard, with no white edge on the speculum and slightly different bare-part colouration.[38]

In captivity, domestic ducks come in wild-type plumages, white, and other colours.[39] Most of these colour variants are also known in domestic mallards not bred as livestock, but kept as pets, aviary birds, etc., where they are rare but increasing in availability.[39]

A noisy species, the female has a deeper quack stereotypically associated with ducks.[40][41] Male mallards also make a sound which is phonetically similar to that of the female, with a typical quack; although it is a deep and raspy sound which can also sound like breeeeze.[42] When incubating a nest, or when offspring are present, females vocalise differently, making a call which sounds like a truncated version of the usual quack. They will also hiss if the nest or their offspring are threatened or interfered with. When taking off, the wings of a mallard produce a characteristic faint whistling noise.[43]

The mallard is a rare example of both Allen's Rule and Bergmann's Rule in birds.[44] Bergmann's Rule, which states that polar forms tend to be larger than related ones from warmer climates, has numerous examples in birds.[45] Allen's Rule says that appendages like ears tend to be smaller in polar forms to minimize heat loss, and larger in tropical and desert equivalents to facilitate heat diffusion, and that the polar taxa are stockier overall.[46] Examples of this rule in birds are rare, as they lack external ears. However, the bill of ducks is supplied with a few blood vessels to prevent heat loss.[47]

Due to the malleability of the mallard's genetic code, which gives it its vast interbreeding capability, mutations in the genes that decide plumage colour are very common and have resulted in a wide variety of hybrids such as Brewer's duck (mallard × gadwall, Anas strepera).[48]

Distribution and Habitat::

The mallard is widely distributed across the Northern and Southern Hemispheres; in North America from southern and central Alaska to Mexico, the Hawaiian Islands,[49] across Eurasia,[50] from Iceland[51] and southern Greenland[49] and parts of Morocco (North Africa)[51] in the west, Scandinavia[51] and Britain[51] to the north, and to Siberia,[52] Japan,[53] and South Korea,[53] in the east, south-eastern and south-western Australia[54] and New Zealand[55] in the Southern hemisphere.[24][56][57] It is strongly migratory in the northern parts of its breeding range, and winters farther south.[50] For example, in North America, it winters south to Southern United States and Northern Mexico,[50] but also regularly strays into Central America and the Caribbean between September and May.[58][59]

The mallard inhabits a wide range of habitat and climates, from Arctic tundra to subtropical regions.[60] It is found in both fresh- and salt-water wetlands, including parks, small ponds, rivers, lakes and estuaries, as well as shallow inlets and open sea within sight of the coastline.[61] Water depths of less than 1 metre (3.3 ft) are preferred, birds avoiding areas more than a few metres deep.[62] They are attracted to bodies of water with aquatic vegetation.[41]

Behaviour:

Feeding:

The mallard is omnivorous and very flexible in its choice of food.[63] Its diet may vary based on several factors, including the stage of the breeding cycle, short-term variations in available food, nutrient availability, and inter and intraspecific competition.[64] The majority of the mallard's diet seems to be made up of gastropods,[65] invertebrates (including beetles, flies, lepidopterans, dragonflies, and caddisflies),[66] crustaceans,[67] worms,[65] many varieties of seeds and plant matter,[65] and roots and tubers.[67] During the breeding season, male birds were recorded to have eaten 37.6% animal matter and 62.4% plant matter, most notably Echinochloa crus-galli, and nonlaying females ate 37.0% animal matter and 63.0% plant matter, while laying females ate 71.9% animal matter and only 28.1% plant matter.[68] Plants generally make up a larger part of the bird's diet, especially during autumn migration and in the winter.[69][70]

It usually feeds by dabbling for plant food or grazing;[71] there are reports of it eating frogs.[71] It usually nests on a river bank, but not always near water. It is highly gregarious outside of the breeding season and forms large flocks, which are known as sords.[72]

Breeding:

Mallards usually form pairs (in October and November in the Northern hemisphere) until the female lays eggs at the start of nesting season which is around the beginning of spring.[73] At this time she is left by the male who joins up with other males to await the moulting period which begins in June (in the Northern hemisphere[74]).[75] During the brief time before this, however, the males are still sexually potent and some of them either remain on standby to sire replacement clutches (for female mallards that have lost or abandoned their previous clutch, replacement clutch[76]) or forcibly mate with females that appear to be isolated or unattached regardless of their species and whether or not they have a brood of ducklings.[76][77]

Duckling, one to two days old, is fully capable of swimming

The nesting period can be very stressful for the female since she lays more than half her body weight in eggs.[78] She requires a lot of rest and a feeding/loafing area that is safe from predators. When seeking out a suitable nesting site, the female's preferences are areas that are well concealed, inaccessible to ground predators, or have few predators nearby. This can include nesting sites in urban areas such as roof gardens, enclosed courtyards, and flower boxes on window ledges and balconies more than one story up, which the ducklings cannot leave safely without human intervention. The clutch is 8–13 eggs, which are incubated for 27–28 days to hatching with 50–60 days to fledging.[79][80] The ducklings are precocial and fully capable of swimming as soon as they hatch.[81] However, filial imprinting compels them to instinctively stay near the mother not only for warmth and protection but also to learn about and remember their habitat as well as how and where to forage for food.[82] When ducklings mature into flight-capable juveniles, they learn about and remember their traditional migratory routes (unless they are born and raised in captivity). They may stay with their family group for up to a year, despite being independent and no longer needing protection.[83]

During the breeding season, both male and female mallards can become aggressive, driving off competitors to themselves or their mate by charging at them.[84] Males tend to fight more than females, and attack each other by repeatedly pecking at their rival's chest, ripping out feathers and even skin on rare occasions.

The group of drakes, end up being left out, after the others are paired off with mating partners, sometimes targets an isolated female duck, even one of a different species, and proceeds to chase and peck at her until she weakens, at which point the males take turns copulating with the female.[85] Lebret (1961) calls this behaviour "Attempted Rape Flight" and Stanley Cramp & K.E.L. Simmons (1977) speak of "rape-intent flights".[85] Male mallards also occasionally chase other male ducks of a different species, and even each other, in the same way.[85] In one documented case of "homosexual necrophilia", a male mallard copulated with another male he was chasing after the chased male died upon flying into a glass window.[86] This paper was awarded an Ig Nobel Prize in 2003.[87]

Mallards are opportunistically targeted by brood parasites, occasionally having eggs laid in their nests by redheads, ruddy ducks, lesser scaup, gadwalls, northern shovelers, northern pintails, cinnamon teal, common goldeneyes, and other mallards.[88] These eggs are generally accepted when they resemble the eggs of the host mallard, although the hen may attempt to eject them or even abandon the nest if parasitism occurs during egg laying.[89]

Predators and Threats:

Mallards of all ages (but especially young ones) and in all locations must contend with a wide diversity of predators including raptors, mustelids, corvids, snakes, raccoons, opossums, skunks, turtles, large fish and felids and canids, including domesticated ones.[90] The most prolific natural predators of adult mallards are red foxes (which most often pick off brooding females) and the faster or larger birds of prey, i.e. peregrine falcons, Aquila eagles or Haliaeetus eagles.[91][92] In North America, adult mallards face no fewer than 15 species of birds of prey, from hen harriers and short-eared owls (both smaller than a mallard) to huge bald and golden eagles, and about a dozen species of mammalian predator, not counting several more avian and mammalian predators who threaten eggs and nestlings.[89]

Mallards are also preyed upon by other waterside apex predators, such as the grey heron (Ardea cinerea),[93] European herring gull (Larus argentatus), the Wels catfish (Silurus glanis) and the Northern pike (Esox lucius).[94] Crows (Corvus sp.) are also known to kill ducklings and adults on occasion.[95] Also, mallards may be attacked by larger anseriformes such as swans (Cygnus sp.) and geese during the breeding season, and are frequently driven off by these birds over territorial disputes. Mute swans (C. olor) have been known to attack mallards if they feel that the ducks pose a threat to their offspring.[96]

Conservation:

Unlike many waterfowl, mallards have benefited from human alterations to the world – so much so that they are now considered an invasive species in some regions.[97]

They are a common sight in urban parks, lakes, ponds, and other manmade water features in the regions they inhabit, and are often tolerated or encouraged among human habitat due to their placid nature towards humans and their beautiful and iridescent colours.[31] While most are not domesticated, mallards are so successful at coexisting in human regions that the main conservation risk they pose comes from the loss of genetic diversity among a region's traditional ducks once humans and mallards colonize an area. Mallards are very adaptable, being able to live and even thrive in urban areas which may have supported more localized, sensitive species of waterfowl before development.[98] The release of feral mallards in areas where they are not native sometimes creates problems through interbreeding with indigenous waterfowl.[97][99] These non-migratory mallards interbreed with indigenous wild ducks from local populations of closely related species through genetic pollution by producing fertile offspring.[99] Complete hybridization of various species of wild ducks gene pools could result in the extinction of many indigenous waterfowl.[99] The wild mallard itself is the ancestor of most domestic ducks and its naturally evolved wild gene pool gets genetically polluted in turn by the domesticated and feral populations.[100][101][102]

Over time, a continuum of hybrids ranging between almost typical examples of either species will develop; the speciation process beginning to reverse itself.[103] This has created conservation concerns for relatives of the mallard, such as the Hawaiian duck,[104][105] the A. s. superciliosa subspecies of the Pacific black duck,[104][106] the American black duck,[107][108] the mottled duck,[109][110] Meller's duck,[111] the yellow-billed duck,[103] and the Mexican duck,[104][110] in the latter case even leading to a dispute whether these birds should be considered a species[112] (and thus entitled to more conservation research and funding) or included in the mallard. In the cases mentioned below and above, however, ecological changes and hunting have led to a decline of local species; for example, the New Zealand grey duck population declined drastically due to overhunting in the mid-20th century.[106] Hybrid offspring of Hawaiian ducks seem to be less well-adapted to native habitat, and utilizing them in reintroduction projects apparently reduces success.[104][113] In summary, the problems of mallards "hybridizing away" relatives is more a consequence of local ducks declining than of mallards spreading; allopatric speciation and isolating behaviour have produced today's diversity of mallard-like ducks despite the fact that in most, if not all, of these populations, hybridization must have occurred to some extent.[114]

References:

*Wikipedia

Dabbling with some astrophotography...

The Mallard, or wild duck (Anas platyrhynchos) is a dabbling duck which breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas,

Dabbling mallards.

This male Gadwall (Anas strepera) lacks the flamboyance of other dabbling ducks, but overall it has a delicate beauty that makes it an attractive species.

This is a large dabbling duck

The Mallard is a member of the Dabbling duck club.

This group of ducks is so named because its members feed mainly on vegetable matter by upending on the water surface, or grazing, and only rarely dive. These are mostly gregarious ducks of freshwater or estuaries. These birds are strong fliers and northern species are highly migratory. Compared to other types of duck, their legs are placed more towards the centre of their bodies. They walk well on land.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dabbling_duck

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported

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The Eurasian teal or common teal (Anas crecca) is a common and widespread duck which breeds in temperate Eurasia and migrates south in winter. The Eurasian teal is often called simply the teal due to being the only one of these small dabbling ducks in much of its range.[2] The bird gives its name to the blue-green colour teal.

It is a highly gregarious duck outside the breeding season and can form large flocks. It is commonly found in sheltered wetlands and feeds on seeds and aquatic invertebrates.

Description:

The Eurasian teal is the smallest extant dabbling duck at 20–30 cm (7.9–11.8 in) length and with an average weight of 340 g (12 oz) in drake (males) and 320 g (11 oz) in hens (females). The wings are 17.5–20.4 cm (6.9–8.0 in) long, yielding a wingspan of 53–59 cm (21–23 in). The bill measures 3.2–4 cm (1.3–1.6 in) in length, and the tarsus 2.8–3.4 cm (1.1–1.3 in).[2][3]

From a distance, the drakes in nuptial plumage appear grey, with a dark head, a yellowish behind, and a white stripe running along the flanks. Their head and upper neck is chestnut, with a wide and iridescent dark green patch of half-moon- or teardrop-shape that starts immediately before the eye and arcs to the upper hindneck. The patch is bordered with thin yellowish-white lines, and a single line of that colour extends from the patch's forward end, curving along the base of the bill. The breast is buff with small round brown spots. The center of the belly is white, and the rest of the body plumage is mostly white with thin and dense blackish vermiculations, appearing medium grey even at a short distance. The outer scapular feathers are white, with a black border to the outer vanes, and form the white side-stripe when the bird is in resting position. The primary remiges are dark greyish brown; the speculum feathers are iridescent blackish-green with white tips, and form the speculum together with the yellowish-white tips of the larger upperwing coverts (which are otherwise grey). The underwing is whitish, with grey remiges, dense dark spotting on the inner coverts and a dark leading edge. The tail and tail coverts are black, with a bright yellowish-buff triangular patch in the center of the coverts at each side.[3]

In non-breeding (eclipse) plumage, the drake looks more like the hen; it is more uniform in colour, with a dark head and vestigial facial markings. The hen itself is yellowish-brown, somewhat darker on wings and back. It has a dark greyish-brown upper head, hindneck, eyestripe and feather pattern. The pattern is dense short streaks on the head and neck, and scaly spots on the rest of the body; overall they look much like a tiny mallard (A. platyrhynchos) hen when at rest. The wings are coloured similar to the drake's, but with brown instead of grey upperwing coverts that have less wide tips, and wider tips of the speculum feathers. The hen's rectrices have yellowish-white tips; the midbelly is whitish with some dark streaking.[3]

Immatures are coloured much like hens, but have a stronger pattern. The downy young are coloured like in other dabbling ducks: brown above and yellow below, with a yellow supercilium. They are recognizable by their tiny size however, weighing just 15 g (0.53 oz) at hatching.[2][3][4]

The drake's bill is dark grey, in eclipse plumage often with some light greenish or brownish hue at the base. The bill of hens and immatures is pinkish or yellowish at the base, becoming dark grey towards the tip; the grey expands basewards as the birds age. The feet are dark grey in males and greyish olive or greyish-brown in females and immatures. The iris is always brown.[3]

Moults during summer. Male in eclipse resembles female, but with darker upperparts and grey bill. Flight feathers are moulted simultaneously and birds are flightless for up to 4 weeks.[5]

This is a noisy species. The male whistles cryc or creelycc, not loud but very clear and far-carrying. The female has a feeble keh or neeh quack. [3]

Males in nuptial plumage are distinguished from green-winged teals by the horizontal white scapular stripe, the lack of a vertical white bar at the breast sides, and the quite conspicuous light outlines of the face patch, which are indistinct in the green-winged teal drake. Males in eclipse plumage, females and immatures are best recognised by their small size, calls, and the speculum; they are hard to tell apart from the green-winged teal however.[3]

Taxonomy:

The Eurasian teal belongs to the "true" teals, a group of small Anas dabbling ducks closely related to the mallard (A. platyrhynchos) and its relatives; that latter group in fact seems to have evolved from a true teal. It forms a superspecies with the green-winged teal and the speckled teal (A. flavirostris). A proposed subspecies, A. c. nimia of the Aleutian Islands, differs only in slightly larger size; it is probably not distinct.[2][6][7]

Whether the Eurasian and green-winged teals are to be treated as one or two species is still being reviewed by the AOU,[8] while the IUCN and BirdLife International separate them nowadays.[1] Despite the almost identical and highly apomorphic nuptial plumage of their males, which continues to puzzle scientists, they seem well distinct species, as indicated by a wealth of behavioural, morphological and molecular data.[6][7][9][10]

The Eurasian teal was first scientifically named by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 edition of Systema naturae. His Latin description reads: [Anas] macula alarum viridi, linea alba supra infraque oculos – "a duck with green speculum, a white line above and below the eyes" – and his primary reference was the bird's description in his earlier work Fauna Svecica.[11] In fact, the description he used in Systema Naturae was the name under which the bird went in the Fauna Svecica, demonstrating the value of his new binomial nomenclature by compressing the long-winded names formerly used in biological classification into much simpler scientific names like Anas crecca. Linnaeus also noted in his description that earlier authors had already written about the Eurasan teal at length: Conrad Gessner[12] had described it in the Historiae animalium as the anas parva ("small duck") among his querquedulae ("teals"); Ulisse Aldrovandi[13] had called it phascade or querquedula minor ("lesser teal"), and was duly referenced by Francis Willughby[14] who named the species querquedula secunda Aldrovandi ("the second teal of Aldrovandus"[note 1]). John Ray[16] may be credited with formally introducing the name "common teal", while Eleazar Albin[17] called it simply "the teal". As regards the type locality Linnaeus simply remarked that it inhabits freshwater ecosystems in Europe.[15]

The scientific name is from Latin Anas, "duck" and kricka, the Swedish name for this species.[18] The specific name of Linnaeus is onomatopoetic, referring to the male's characteristic call which was already discussed by Linnaeus' sources.[citation needed] The scientific name of the Eurasian teal—unchanged since Linnaeus' time— therefore translates as "duck that makes cryc"; common names like the Bokmål krikkand, Danish krikand and German Krickente mean the same.

Distribution and habitat:

Wintering birds at Purbasthali, Burdwan District of West Bengal (India)

The Eurasian teal breeds across northern Eurasia and mostly winters well south of its breeding range. However, in the milder climate of temperate Europe, the summer and winter ranges overlap. For example, in the United Kingdom and Ireland a small summer population breeds, but far greater numbers of Siberian birds arrive in winter. In the Caucasus region, western Asia Minor, along the northern shores of the Black Sea, and even on the south coast of Iceland and on the Vestmannaeyjar, the species can be encountered all year, too.[3]

In winter, there are high densities around the Mediterranean, including the entire Iberian Peninsula and extending west to Mauretania; on Japan and Taiwan; as well as in South Asia. Other important wintering locations include almost the entire length of the Nile Valley, the Near East and Persian Gulf region, the mountain ranges of northern Iran, and South Korea and continental East and Southeast Asia. More isolated wintering grounds are Lake Victoria, the Senegal River estuary, the swamps of the upper Congo River, the inland and sea deltas of the Niger River, and the central Indus River valley. Vagrants have been seen in inland Zaire, Malaysia, on Greenland, and on the Marianas, Palau and Yap in Micronesia;[19] they are regularly recorded on the North American coasts south to California and South Carolina.[3]

Altogether, the Eurasian teal is much less common than its American counterpart, though still very plentiful. Its numbers are mainly assessed by counts of wintering birds; some 750,000 are recorded annually around the Mediterranean and Black Seas, 250,000 in temperate western Europe, and more than 110,000 in Japan. In 1990 and 1991, a more detailed census was undertaken, yielding over 210,000 birds wintering in Iran, some 109,000 in Pakistan, about 77,000 in Azerbaijan, some 37,000 in India, 28,000 in Israel, over 14,000 in Turkmenistan and almost 12,000 in Taiwan. It appears to be holding its own currently, with its slow decline of maybe 1–2% annually in the 1990s – presumably mainly due to drainage and pollution of wetlands – not warranting action other than continuing to monitor the population and possibly providing better protection for habitat on the wintering grounds. The IUCN and BirdLife International classify the Eurasian teal as a species of Least Concern, unchanged from their assessment before the split of the more numerous A. carolinensis.[1][2][3]

The Eurasian teal is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.

Behaviour:

This dabbling duck is highly gregarious outside of the breeding season and will form large flocks. In flight, the fast, twisting flocks resemble waders; despite its short legs, it is also rather nimble on the ground by ducks' standards. In the breeding season, it is a common inhabitant of sheltered freshwater wetlands with some tall vegetation, such as taiga bogs or small lakes and ponds with extensive reedbeds. In winter, it is often seen in brackish waters and even in sheltered inlets and lagoons along the seashore.[3]

The Eurasian teal usually feeds by dabbling, upending or grazing; it may submerge its head and on occasion even dive to reach food. In the breeding season it eats mainly aquatic invertebrates, such as crustaceans, insects and their larvae, molluscs and worms. In winter, it shifts to a largely granivorous diet, feeding on seeds of aquatic plants and grasses, including sedges and grains. Diurnal throughout the breeding season, in winter they are often crepuscular or even nocturnal feeders.[3]

It nests on the ground, near water and under cover. The pairs form in the winter quarters and arrive on the breeding grounds together, starting about March. The breeding starts some weeks thereafter, not until May in the most northernly locations. The nest is a deep hollow lined with dry leaves and down feathers, built in dense vegetation near water. After the females have started laying, the males leave them and move away for shorter or longer distances, assembling in flocks on particular lakes where they moult into eclipse plumage; they will usually encounter their offspring only in winter quarters. The clutch may consist of 5–16 eggs, but usually numbers 8–11; they are incubated for 21–23 days. The young leave the nest soon after hatching and are attended by the mother for about 25–30 days, after which they fledge. The drakes and the hens with young generally move to the winter quarters separately. After the first winter, the young moult into adult plumage. The maximum recorded lifespan – though it is not clear whether this refers to the common or the green-winged teal—was over 27 years, which is rather high for such a small bird.[3]

References:

*Wikipedia

BirdLife International (2012). "Anas crecca". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.

^ Jump up to: a b c d e Carboneras, Carles (1992). del Hoyo, Josep; Elliott, Andrew; Sargatal, Jordi, eds. Family Anatidae (Ducks, Geese and Swans). Handbook of Birds of the World. Volume 1: Ostrich to Ducks. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. pp. 536–629, plates 40–50. ISBN 84-87334-10-5.

^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m Madge, S.; Burn, H. (1987). Wildfowl, an Identification Guide to the Ducks, Geese and Swans of the World. London: Christopher Helm. ISBN 0713636475.

Jump up ^ "Anas crecca life history data". AnAge. 2009. Retrieved 6 January 2009.

Jump up ^ RSPB Handbook of British Birds (2104). UK ISBN 978-1-4729-0647-2.

^ Jump up to: a b Livezey, Bradley C. (1991). "A phylogenetic analysis and classification of recent dabbling ducks (Tribe Anatini) based on comparative morphology" (PDF). Auk. 108 (3): 471–507. doi:10.2307/4088089.

^ Jump up to: a b Johnson, Kevin P.; Sorenson, Michael D. (1999). "Phylogeny and biogeography of dabbling ducks (genus Anas): a comparison of molecular and morphological evidence" (PDF). Auk. 116 (3): 792–805. doi:10.2307/4089339.

Jump up ^ South American Classification Committee (2008). "Part 1. Struthioniformes to Cathartiformes, Version of 22 December 2008". A classification of the bird species of South America. Retrieved 5 January 2009.

Jump up ^ Laurie-Ahlberg, C.C.; McKinney, F. (1979). "The nod-swim display of male Green-winged Teal (Anas crecca)". Animal Behaviour. 27: 165. doi:10.1016/0003-3472(79)90136-2.

Jump up ^ Sangster, George; Knox, Alan G.; Helbig, Andreas J.; Parkin, David T. (2002). "Taxonomic recommendations for European birds". Ibis. 144: 153. doi:10.1046/j.0019-1019.2001.00026.x.

Jump up ^ Linnaeus, Carl (1746): 109. Anas macula alarum viridi: linea alba supra infraque oculos. In: Fauna Svecica Sistens Animalia Sveciæ Regni, etc. (1st ed.): 39–40 [in Latin]. Conrad & Georg Jacob Wishoff, Leiden ("Lugdunum Batavorum").

Jump up ^ Gessner, Conrad (1555). Historiae animalium (in Latin). vol. 3. Zürich [Tigurium]: Christoph Froschauer. pp. 103–105.

Jump up ^ Aldrovandi, Ulisse (Ulyssis Aldrovandus) (1637). Ornithologia (in Latin). vol. 3: Tomus tertius ac postremus (2nd ed.). Bologna [Bononia]: Nicolò Tebaldini. pp. 207–209.

Jump up ^ Willughby, Francis (1676). Ornithologiae libri tres (in Latin). London: John Martyn. p. 290.

^ Jump up to: a b Linnaeus 1758, pp. 126–127

Jump up ^ Ray, John (Joannis Raii) (1713). Synopsis methodica avium & piscium: opus posthumum, etc. (in Latin). vol. 1. London: William Innys. pp. 147–148.

Jump up ^ Albin, Eleazar (1731–1738): A natural history of the birds (3 volumes). William Innys, London. Vol.1, p.95, plate 100; vol. 2, p.91, plate 102

Jump up ^ Jobling, James A (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. pp. 46, 121. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.

Jump up ^ Wiles, Gary J.; Johnson, Nathan C.; de Cruz, Justine B.; Dutson, Guy; Camacho, Vicente A.; Kepler, Angela Kay; Vice, Daniel S.; Garrett, Kimball L.; Kessler, Curt C.; Pratt, H. Douglas (2004). "New and Noteworthy Bird Records for Micronesia, 1986–2003". Micronesica. 37 (1): 69–96.

side-tracked away from cathedral windows momentarily by ooohh-shiny-pretty fabric combinations + another quilty idea. but i won't be able to stay away from those cathedrals for very long, i do know that much.

The teal (Anas crecca) is a small dabbling duck known for its vibrant plumage and swift flight. Males have a chestnut-colored head with a striking green eye patch, while females are mottled brown for camouflage. Both sexes display a bright green wing patch in flight.

Teals are commonly found in wetlands, marshes, and flooded meadows, where they feed on seeds and small invertebrates. They are widespread across Europe and Asia, with many migrating to the UK in winter from colder regions like the Baltic and Siberia.

Despite their small size, teals are agile flyers and can take off almost vertically, a trait that has earned them the collective name "spring" when in flocks. Their population fluctuates seasonally, with large numbers arriving in the UK during winter.

This wristwatch was given to me by my son, Dylan. He and I both dabbled a bit in German and world history. This is a copy of field watch worn by some German soldiers in WWII. "Dienstuhr" roughly translates to 'field watch' in American English. 'Service watch' is a more literal translation, but I haven't heard it called that.

Large chipped Atlantic Noble Triton Trumpet shell (The description Charonia Nobilis does not actually exist) about a foot long. I'm giving serious consideration to turning this shell into a horn. As a teenager I dabbled at playing the French horn, a one valve bugle in a Boy Scout/Legion marching band and a trumpet in high school. This would have a totally different aesthetic.

www.flickr.com/photos/21728045@N08/32538981152/in/photoli...

www.flickr.com/photos/internetarchivebookimages/148021776...

www.flickr.com/photos/internetarchivebookimages/147468078...

www.flickr.com/photos/internetarchivebookimages/147445304...

SOME BASICS ON SHELL TRUMPETS

AND SOME VERY BASICS ON HOW TO MAKE THEM

By Mitchell Clark © 1996

Two views of an end-blown shell trumpet made by the author from a Cassis cornuta ("horned helmet"); length 8 1/4"; pitch B3 (open) or A3 (hand-stopped).

At the request of the editor of Experimental Musical Instruments, to whom I once casually mentioned that I had made a few shell trumpets, I will write something about the process of making such an instrument. But, to the possible disappointment of the editor, there's not an awful lot for me to say about their construction, as the simple forms of shell trumpets are quite easy to make. So, in the style of an entry in a cookbook where the author gives lots of history, lore, and anecdotes, and then finally gets down to the recipe, somewhere in what follows are some basic instructions for making shell trumpets. Endnotes - often referring to illustrations which may be consulted in other sources - are included, and contribute additional texture.

I'll start by saying that when I was young, I knew about shell trumpets but obviously did not quite understand the principle of how they worked. I thought that no alteration was made to a conch's shell, which I thought was very beautiful and that it would be a shame to deface it. Rather, it seemed that getting the shell to sound was a matter simply of blowing very, very, very hard. Fortunately I did not rupture any blood vessels trying out this theory.1

But the shell trumpet (an instrument in the domain of study of the organologist) has indeed been altered from the animal's natural shell (a natural object in the domain of study of the conchologist) in such a way that would make life uncomfortable for the actual mollusk itself (an animal in the domain of study of the malacologist) - that is, a hole's been poked in the shell. A shell trumpet will obviously have to made after the mollusk has (willingly or unwillingly) vacated.

There are two basic places this hole may be placed, and so there are two basic approaches that can be taken for making a conch shell into a shell trumpet. A hole is made either at the apex (the tip of the spire) of the shell, or, alternatively, in one of the whorls to the side of the spire. The mouth hole may be at the apex if the spire is shallow, as on a Strombus gigas ("queen conch" or "pink conch," common in the Caribbean), 2 Cassis cornuta ("horned helmet," found in the Indo-Pacific region), or Cassis tuberosa ("king helmet," found in the Caribbean). The mouth hole may be on the side of the spire if the spire is more steep, as on a Charonia tritonis ("Triton's trumpet," distributed throughout most of the tropical Pacific and Indian Oceans). In some cases the hole itself forms the mouth hole; in others, a mouthpiece is added. Mouthpieces seem to be a matter of what tradition has evolved, as sometimes the same species of shell may be found with or without a mouthpiece. For instance, a variety of approaches will be found with Charonia tritonis. In Polynesia, a mouth hole cut into the side of the spire is the norm. 3 Occasionally a side-blown tritonis will have a mouthpiece added, as found in the Marquesas Islands; 4 this appears to be a rare arrangement. Concerning end-blown tritonis, on the Hawaiian pu 5 and on the Korean na, 6 a mouth hole is cut into the apex. On the Japanese hora, the tritonis (called horagai) is given a mouthpiece, placed at the apex. 7 Other shells used for trumpets usually have the hole in the apex, with a mouthpiece or (perhaps more commonly) without.

The qualities of sounds which shell trumpets can produce are varied, and also layered in the meanings and responses such sounds evoke. As children we learn of one of the poetic associations of shells - that if you hold a conch shell to your ear, you will hear (however far away from the coastline you may be) the sound of the sea. 8 Yes, perhaps it is indeed the air column enclosed by the shell filtering the ambient level of noise to create a faint roaring sound. But the association of shells with water, and the sea especially, is also at the basis of the many of the ceremonial uses of shell trumpets around the world. Shell trumpets have often been used at great distances from the sea, and this has contributed to the sacredness of their sounds. Thus the hearing the of sea in a shell may be a vestige of these older, profound associations. Shell trumpets produce a profound sound in every sense of the word - there is a sense of the sound coming from the deep past. This is both true as regards the actual antiquity of the use of shell trumpets, which dates to the Neolithic era, 9 and in the very shell itself. The apex of a univalve gastropod such as a conch or a snail is the oldest part of the shell (the place where the young animal started growing): in blowing a shell trumpet the sound is passing from the oldest place to the youngest - from the past towards the present.

Concerning this antiquity of the use of shell trumpets, the etymologist Eric Partridge puts forth the idea that the word "conch" may be of echoic - that is, onomatopoeic - origin. 10 Echoic, I suppose, of the sound of the blast of a shell trumpet, and thus - given the early Greek roots of the work "conch" - indicating the great antiquity of their use. A common term applied in a number of parts of Polynesia to the shell trumpet - pu - would certainly also seem, in its own way, to be echoic.

The most common use of shell trumpets in many parts of the world - and they have a remarkably wide distribution - is as a signaling device. A shell trumpet may announce curfew in Samoa, or announce that fresh fish is for sale in Fiji, or may serve as a foghorn on the Mediterranean. The shell trumpet often has a magical role in relation to weather. It may be used on the one hand be used to calm rough seas, or on the other to summon wind when seas are becalmed. 11 Shell trumpets are also used in musical contexts, most often in conjunction with ritual. The Indian shanka has held a place in the Hindu religion for millennia. There it may be used as a ritual vessel as well as a trumpet. 12 The shanka is also of significance in Buddhism, where, besides its musical uses, it figures importantly into Buddhist iconography. Befitting their role in Tibetan ritual music, where they are called dung-dkar, shell trumpets made from shanka receive detailed decoration, with carving on the surface of the shell itself and with added ornamentation in metal and semi-precious stone. 13 Shell trumpets were also important ritual instruments in Pre-Columbian South and Central America and in Minoan Crete. In these latter areas, skeuomorphic reproductions ("the substitution of products of craftsmanship for components or objects of natural origin") of shell trumpets, in ceramic and stone, are found archaeologically. The details of their exact purposes remain a mystery. 14 Generally a shell trumpet is used to produce one note; harmonics are possible but seldom utilized. One exception is the Japanese hora, where three, sometimes even four, pitches of the harmonic series may be employed. 15 On the end-blown Fijian shell trumpet made from the Bursa bubo ("giant frog shell"), there is a fingerhole which will allow for a whole-tone change in pitch. 16 Shell trumpets with several fingerholes have also been explored. 17 Occasionally pitch is modified by the player inserting his or her hand into the aperture. Although shell trumpets would seem to lend themselves to being played in a musical context in homogenous ensembles, along the lines of ensembles of panpipes and stamping tubes in Oceania (particularly Melanesia), such an approach is actually very rare. Tonga (in Polynesia) is the only place where conch ensembles have been found, and then only in the more remote areas (some of the northern islands) and only in a few musical contexts (for recreation and for cricket matches). 18 In contemporary music and jazz, however, ensembles of shell trumpets have been used by trombonists Stuart Dempster and Steve Turre.

Now, to get to work. I've made a few shell trumpets with the mouth-hole at the apex. A simple basic recipe is:

Ingredients:

The shell of a large univalve gastropod

A file

Jeweler's files for finishing work (optional)

Procedure:

File off the tip of the spire.

Smooth out the perimeter of the hole (optional).

That's it. But to be more specific: from my experience, for making a shell trumpet it seems that a conch of some size - something like seven inches or greater in length - is needed. My attempt at making an instrument with the shell of a young Strombus gigas (perhaps 5-6 inches long) did not work out: I just couldn't get a sound out of the thing. Perhaps a smaller shell such as that might work with a mouthpiece. I've made end-blown trumpets from Cassis cornuta (my shell of choice; see photos above), Cassis tuberosa, and adult Strombus gigas. My construction approach with the Cassis has been to file off the tip with an 8" mill bastard file and a lot of elbow grease, getting it to the point where the opening is about 5/8" in diameter. With the jeweler's files, I'll smooth down the insides of the opening. For a Strombus gigas, which has a steeper spire, I first cut off an inch or so of the tip with a saw, and then proceeded as with the Cassis.

It is certainly possible to get the job done more quickly. A friend once made a trumpet from a Strombus gigas by forcibly breaking off the tip - he's a percussionist - with little or no filing. In this case, it appears that the irregularities of the edges of the mouth-hole allowed for a more pronounced array of upper partials to the shell trumpet's tone. To remove the tip of a Strombus gigas, D.Z. Crookes (describing the process in his "How to make a shelly hautbois") supported the shell's tip "on an anvil, and nipped it off with a cold chisel," later carving a "half-civilized" mouthpiece. 19 I suppose one could also use a power grinder or sander to quickly get through the early stage on a Cassis, for instance, but I think a couple of hours or so of manual filing is not too big a price to pay (however, see photo below). Of course, being physically involved with the stages of the manufacture of a shell trumpet, as with any musical instrument, increases one's connection with the instrument and its sounds.

As regards side-blown shell trumpets, I've made one, from a Charonia tritonis (see photo below). For such a shell, a basic recipe could be:

Ingredients:

The shell of a large conch with a steep spire, especially a Charonia tritonis

A drill

Jeweler's files for expanding the hole and for finishing work

Procedure:

Drill a small hole into the side of the spire.

Expand the size of the hole and smooth out the edges.

Again, a little more detail. I placed the hole in the second whorl out from, and on the same side of the spire as, the aperture. With this arrangement the aperture faces backwards from the player when the trumpet is played. I used photographs of side-blown Charonia tritonis as my guide. 20 I used a drill bit of about l/8" diameter to get the hole started and then followed with a 1/4" bit. I expanded the hole to about 5/8" with a half-round jeweler's file. A larger rat-tail file would also be possible (although one needs to be careful of a bulkier tool damaging the interior of the shell), before following up with the jeweler's file.

Although I've made a few shell trumpets, I have not yet made musical use of them in any concerted way. I do have a piece - forthcoming in my series of Anthems for ensembles of "peacefully co-existing" sustained sounds - for a plurality of shell trumpets and pre-recorded tape. Also, when you've got a shell trumpet around, blowing it every once in a while does impress neighbors and passers-by alike.

Again, these are the most basic of recipes. I look forward to other writers who have more background in the individual traditions of these instruments, and who are more acquainted with the acoustics and detailed construction, 21 to contribute further on the subject of these fascinating instruments.

ENDNOTES

1. Despite the fact that a large conch does need to be modified to make a trumpet, a small snail shell can be used, unmodified, as a whistle. An intact snail shell is essentially a stopped pipe, and if the aperture is of an appropriate size - so the player is able to create an embouchure - the shell can be an effective whistle. Unaltered large conch shells filled with water were used for their gurgling sounds by John Cage in his pieces Inlets (1977, which also makes use of a shell trumpet) and Two3 (1991, which also includes a Japanese shô reed organ). A single such large water-filled conch was used by the present author in his "concerning an aspect..." (1988). Return to text

2. In general usage, the word "conch" is used to describe large spiral univalve gastropods even when it is not referring to what is, strictly speaking, a conch (the "true conchs" are members of the genus Strombus). This seems to be especially true in relation to shell trumpets, where the term "conch trumpet" is used quite freely. Return to text

3. See Richard M. Moyle, Polynesian Sound-producing Instruments (Princes Risborough, England: Shire Publications, 1990), 39 and figure 25, which shows several side-blown tritonis being played in Tonga. Return to text

4. Richard M. Moyle, Polynesian Sound-producing Instruments, 39 and lower portion of figure 23. Return to text

5. Te Rangi Hiroa (Peter H. Buck), Arts and Crafts of Hawaii, IX: Musical Instruments (Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press, 1957, reprinted 1964), figure 256a. Return to text

6. See Chang Sa-hun, Uri yet Akki ("Our Traditional Musical Instruments"; Seoul: Daewonsa, 1990), 31. Return to text

7. See Hajime Fukui, "The Hora (Conch Trumpet) of Japan" in Galpin Society Journal 47 (1994): 47-62, where several photographs and a diagram of the mouthpiece are shown. For a full-size color photograph of a hora, see Jane Fearer Safer and Frances McLaughlin Gill, Spirals from the Sea: An Anthropological look at Shells (New York: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc., 1982), 174-5. Concerning the hora, one of its less-documented uses is in a rite called Shunie associated with the Tôdai-ji Temple in Nara (see Hajime Fukui's essay, 52). A shell-trumpet ensemble portion of the Shunie can be heard on the album Harmony of Japanese Music, mentioned in the attached discography. Return to text

8. Note that terminology relating to the human ear is rich in shell imagery. The cochlea (a Latin word derived from the Greek kokhlos, land snail) is the spiral, shell-shaped portion of the inner ear which transmits the signals to the brain which are interpreted as sound. As a word referring to a shell-like structure, concha (from the Greek konkhe - a shell-bearing mollusk in general - which, via Latin, is the ancestral form of "conch") is a term used to describe the human external ear, also known as pinna. And pinna, from the Latin word for "wing" or "feather," is also the name for a genus of large - and wing- or feather-shaped - bivalve mollusks (family Pinnidae). Return to text

9. John M. Schechter and Mervyn McLean, "Conch-shell trumpet" in Stanley Sadie, ed., The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments (London: Macmillan. 1954), I:461. Note that it is conjectured that the earliest use of the instrument was as a voice modifier - a megaphone of sorts. Return to text

10. Eric Partridge, Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English (2nd edition, New York: MacMillan, 1959), 114. Note especially one Middle English spelling, conk. Return to text

11. A recorded example of the former, from Chuuk, Micronesia, is included on the album Spirit of Micronesia, mentioned in the attached discography. The latter is mentioned in the entry for the shell trumpet ntuantuangi, of the Poso Toradja of Celebes, in Sibyl Marcuse, Musical Instruments: A Comprehensive Dictionary (2nd edition, New York & London: W.W. Norton & Co., 1975), 368. Return to text

12. Note that the Sanskrit word shanka (which may be romanized in various ways, with or without diacritics; the English common name for the shell is "chank") does share the same Indo-European root as konkhe, and ultimately, "conch." The Latin scientific name for the shanka is Turbinella pyrum. Return to text

13. See Safer and Gill, Spirals from the Sea, 176-7, for two views of a specimen dated 1400. Return to text

14. Jeremy Montagu, "The conch in prehistory: pottery, stone and natural" in World Archaeology 12/3 (1981): 273-9, which focuses on these shell-trumpet skeuomorphs. Return to text

15. Hajime Fukui "The Hora (Conch Trumpet) of Japan," 51-2. Return to text

16. Moyle, Polynesian Sound-producing Instruments, 39 and figure 24. Return to text

17. See D.Z. Crookes, "How to make a shelly hautbois" in FoMRHI Quarterly 80 (July 1995): 43, where he experiments with up to seven (?) fingerholes on Strombus gigas. Return to text

18. Richard M. Moyle, "Conch Ensemble: Tonga's Unique Contribution to Polynesian Organology" in Galpin Society Journal 28 (1975): 98-106. Also, his Polynesian Sound-producing Instruments, 41-2 and figure 25. Ensembles of three to seven, or more, side-blown Charonia tritonis are used. Return to text

19. Crookes, "How to make a shelly hautbois," 43. Return to text

20. For instance, Eric Metzgar, Arts of Micronesia (Long Beach, Calif.: FHP Hippodrome Gallery, 1987 {exhibition catalogue}), figure G, and Safer and Gill, Spirals from the Sea, 168. Return to text

21. See Montagu, "The conch in prehistory: pottery, stone and natural," 274-5, for a brief discussion of shell-trumpet acoustics which outlines some of the basic issues. Concerning shell-trumpet construction, note that Hajime Fukui's "The Hora (Conch Trumpet) of Japan" goes into a great amount of detail concerning making this particular instrument. Return to text

SOME SHELL TRUMPET DISCOGRAPHY

Following is a handful of recordings including shell trumpets. Occasionally, recordings of shell trumpets will appear on collections of music from Oceania. An example is Spirit of Micronesia (Saydisc CD-SDL 414), which includes a conche (note this alternate spelling) introducing two chants (track 20) and a conche used for warding off storm clouds (track 22; a photo on page 20 of the booklet shows a player of a trumpet made from a Cassis species). Though brief, this latter track beautifully captures, against a backdrop of storm waves, the shell trumpet's evocative qualities. Pan Records' Fa'a-Samoa: The Samoan way... between conch shell and disco (PAN 2066CD) includes a recording (track 1) of a conch-shell pu being used to announce curfew; on track 13, an animal horn used for the same purpose is also called pu. (The "disco" of the title is actually a brass band performance.) Another album on Pan, Tuvalu: A Polynesian Atoll Society (PAN 2055CD), has an impressive photograph of a shell-trumpet player on the cover, but does not include any shell-trumpet recordings.

A Japanese Buddhist ritual-music use of shell trumpets - as part of O-Mizu Tori ("a water-drawing rite") of the Shunie rite at Tôdai-ji Temple, Nara - may be heard on Harmony of Japanese Music (King Records [Japan] KICH 2021).

Steve Turre's Sanctified Shells (Antilles 314 514 186-2) and Stuart Dempster's Underground Overlays from the Cistern Chapel (New Albion NA076) include some contemporary creative uses of shell trumpets in ensemble. Colin Offord's Pacific Sound (Move Records [Australia] MD 3 105) makes use of shell trumpets in ensemble with instruments of his own construction. Together with other sound-makers made of shells, a shell trumpet may be heard on the track "Sea Language" on The Art of Primitive Sound's Musical Instruments from Prehistory (Hic Sunt Leones [Italy] HSL 003).

Baoding Balls

An on-line description of one:

This Japanese vintage Samurai Horagai is a trumpet shell of yoroi, or armour. It is about 50 years old, and is like the real thing used during the age of the Samurai. It is made from a real trumpet shell like the shells we have had before and found in many oceans including the Pacific, this one being from Japan. A mouth piece had been attached and it can be used just like in the old days when it was used to communicate during wars. Horagai was used as a command and signal of the old times during Samurai battles. Now it is used for decorating armour.

Dabbling in the mud that is. Whilst it is a lovely place to see Swans and other water fowl it has to be said it is not the cleanest of country parks.

Merriwa Park in Wangaratta

The Mallard, or Wild duck (Anas platyrhynchos[1]), probably the best-known and most recognizable of all ducks, is a dabbling duck which breeds throughout the temperate and sub-tropical Americas, Europe, Asia, New Zealand (where it is currently the most common duck species), and Australia.

The male birds have a bright green head, while the female's is light brown. The Mallard lives in wetlands, eats water plants, and is gregarious. It is also migratory. The Mallard is the ancestor of all domestic ducks, and can interbreed with other species of genus Anas.[2] This interbreeding is causing rarer species of ducks to become genetically diluted.

The Mallard is 56–65 centimetres (22–26 in) long, has a wingspan of 81–98 centimetres (32–39 in), and weighs 0.9–1.2 kilograms (32–42 oz). The breeding male is unmistakable, with a bright green head, black rear end and a yellowish orange (can also contain some red) bill tipped with black (as opposed to the dark brown bill in females), and is also nature's most feared duck. The female Mallard is light brown, like most female dabbling ducks. However, both the female and male Mallards have distinct purple speculum edged with white, prominent in flight or at rest (though temporarily shed during the annual summer moult). In non-breeding (eclipse) plumage the drake becomes drab, looking more like the female, but still distinguishable by its yellow bill and reddish breast.

In captivity, domestic ducks come in wild-type plumages, white, and other colours. Most of these colour variants are also known in domestic Mallards not bred as livestock, but kept as pets, aviary birds, etc., where they are rare but increasing in availability.

A noisy species, the male has a nasal call, the female has a "quack" stereotypically associated with ducks.[3]

The Mallard is a rare example of both Allen's Rule and Bergmann's Rule in birds. Bergmann's Rule, which states that polar forms tend to be larger than related ones from warmer climates, has numerous examples in birds. Allen's Rule says that appendages like ears tend to be smaller in polar forms to minimize heat loss, and larger in tropical and desert equivalents to facilitate heat diffusion, and that the polar taxa are stockier overall. Examples of this rule in birds are rare, as they lack external ears. However, the bill of ducks is very well supplied with blood vessels and is vulnerable to cold.

A small flock of Blue-winged Teals (Anas discors) dabbled for underwater plants, and tempted a couple of large immoblile alligators that were basking in the warm Florida sun.

Seen at Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, Florida.

I don't dabble in self portraiture. In fact I despise having my picture taken. That said, putting myself in front of the camera to make this image is a big deal for me.

This is my contribution for The Wild Ones group for October's theme "spooky." I didn't actually get to participate in a workshop as there wasn't an MA one, BUT!, Sarah is a good friend, someone I've worked for and with quite a number of times, and she's encouraged me to join and take a stab at things. Broaden my horizons in photography if you'd like to look at it that way. Been telling her for awhile I've wanted to try more conceptual imagery which if this ends up being the instigator for that then there we go.

Anyways,

inspiration for this came from these haunting Mardi Gras masks my parents had hanging up in the living room back when I was 6-7 as well as a deep obsession/love for the series Bioshock.

ALSO

Taken with my new Canon 6D and 50mm 1.4 :-D

Cleaned Negatives from my first roll with Minolta 7000 shooting Portra 160

Out on the Pond, Mama and the chicks just swimming and dabbling.

Still dabbling in the Star Wars Constraction Figure Genre here's custom Commander Cody with Brick built DC-15A clone trooper blaster rifle - watch the vid for more insight into this hybrid lego system / constraction build... www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAK0zvBlJFQ

Green-winged teal

Anas carolinensis

American coot (background)

Fulica americana

Huntley Meadows Park, Alexandria, Virginia

The Mallard, or Wild duck (Anas platyrhynchos), probably the best-known and most recognizable of all ducks, is a dabbling duck which breeds throughout the temperate and sub-tropical Americas, Europe, Asia, New Zealand (where it is currently the most common duck species), and Australia.

The male birds have a bright green head, while the female's is light brown. The Mallard lives in wetlands, eats water plants, and is gregarious. It is also migratory. The Mallard is the ancestor of all domestic ducks, and can interbreed with other species of genus Anas. This interbreeding is causing rarer species of ducks to become genetically diluted.

The Mallard is 56–65 centimetres (22–26 in) long, has a wingspan of 81–98 centimetres (32–39 in), and weighs 0.9–1.2 kilograms (32–42 oz). The breeding male is unmistakable, with a bright green head, black rear end and a yellowish orange (can also contain some red) bill tipped with black (as opposed to the dark brown bill in females), and is also nature's most feared duck. The female Mallard is light brown, like most female dabbling ducks. However, both the female and male Mallards have distinct purple speculum edged with white, prominent in flight or at rest (though temporarily shed during the annual summer moult). In non-breeding (eclipse) plumage the drake becomes drab, looking more like the female, but still distinguishable by its yellow bill and reddish breast.

In captivity, domestic ducks come in wild-type plumages, white, and other colours. Most of these colour variants are also known in domestic Mallards not bred as livestock, but kept as pets, aviary birds, etc., where they are rare but increasing in availability.

A noisy species, the male has a nasal call, the female has a "quack" stereotypically associated with ducks.

The Mallard is a rare example of both Allen's Rule and Bergmann's Rule in birds. Bergmann's Rule, which states that polar forms tend to be larger than related ones from warmer climates, has numerous examples in birds. Allen's Rule says that appendages like ears tend to be smaller in polar forms to minimize heat loss, and larger in tropical and desert equivalents to facilitate heat diffusion, and that the polar taxa are stockier overall. Examples of this rule in birds are rare, as they lack external ears. However, the bill of ducks is very well supplied with blood vessels and is vulnerable to cold.

© i see the moon photography

ok...just tell me you like this....tell me it's just the best thing you've seen all day....i cannot tell you what i went through to complete this vision...from the vintage 1960's costume (which you'll see more of later) that i was initially outbid on, but the winner didn't pay,so i did.....an unfortunate amount........ to the freezing cold she's so blessedly sitting in, to this house that i loved as a kid, and entertained buying briefly as it's for sale, but falling to shambles....just say you like it. do it.

Haunting Labyrinth: Terror Trail Hunt! Oct 1-31

The teal (Anas crecca) is a small dabbling duck known for its vibrant plumage and swift flight. Males have a chestnut-colored head with a striking green eye patch, while females are mottled brown for camouflage. Both sexes display a bright green wing patch in flight.

Teals are commonly found in wetlands, marshes, and flooded meadows, where they feed on seeds and small invertebrates. They are widespread across Europe and Asia, with many migrating to the UK in winter from colder regions like the Baltic and Siberia.

Despite their small size, teals are agile flyers and can take off almost vertically, a trait that has earned them the collective name "spring" when in flocks. Their population fluctuates seasonally, with large numbers arriving in the UK during winter.

Teals are small dabbling ducks. Males have chestnut coloured heads with broad green eye-patches, a spotted chest, grey flanks and a black edged yellow tail. Females are mottled brown. Both show bright green wing patches (speculum) in flight. They are thinly distributed as a breeding species with a preference for northern moors and mires. In winter birds congregate in low-lying wetlands in the south and west of the UK. Of these, many are continental birds from around the Baltic and Siberia. At this time, the UK is home to a significant percentage of the NW European wintering population making it an Amber List species.

(S) (C)

-Tap Twice for Large-

A breeding pair of Canada geese ...The Male begins ‘treading’ the female at the beginning of mating.

Photo number 2 in a series of 10

Many thanks for visiting my Flickr pages ...Your visits, interest, comments and kindness to 'fave' my photos is very much appreciated, Steve.

Notes.

Canada Geese eat grain from fields, graze on grass, and dabble in shallow water by tipping forward and extending their necks underwater. During much of the year they associate in large flocks, and many of these birds may be related to one another. They mate for life with very low “divorce rates,” and pairs remain together throughout the year. Geese mate “assortatively,” larger birds choosing larger mates and smaller ones choosing smaller mates; in a given pair, the male is usually larger than the female. Most Canada Geese do not breed until their fourth year; less than 10 percent breed as yearlings, and most pair bonds are unstable until birds are at least two or three years old. Extra-pair copulations have been documented.

During spring, pairs break out from flocks and begin defending territories. Spacing of these pairs is variable and depends on availability of nest sites and population density; where population is large, even after a great many fights birds may end up nesting in view of one another, and some populations are semi-colonial.

Canada Goose threat displays may involve head pumping, bill opened with tongue raised, hissing, honking, and vibrating neck feathers. When an intruding goose doesn’t retreat, geese may grab each other by breast or throat and hit each other with their wings. Fighting may result in injuries.

Female selects nest site, builds nest, and incubates eggs. She may brood goslings in cold, wet, or windy weather and while they’re sleeping for first week after hatching. Male guards the nest while female incubates.

Soon after they hatch, goslings begin pecking at small objects, and spend most of their time sleeping and feeding. They remain with their parents constantly, though sometimes “gang broods” form, especially in more southern latitudes. These can include at least two broods, and sometimes five or more, that travel, feed, and loaf together, accompanied by at least one adult.

Young often remain with their parents for their entire first year, especially in the larger subspecies. As summer wanes birds become more social; they may gather in large numbers at food sources; where food is limited and patchy, may compete with displays and fights.

In winter, Geese can remain in northern areas with some open water and food resources even where temperatures are extremely cold. Geese breeding in the northernmost reaches of their range tend to migrate long distances to winter in the more southerly parts of the range, whereas geese breeding in southern Canada and the conterminous United States migrate shorter distances or not at all. Individuals tend to return to the same migratory stopover and wintering areas year after year. Spring migration may be difficult for observers to track because of over-wintering birds and movements between night time resting areas and feeding areas, but the bulk of spring migratory movements tend to move north behind the retreating snow line, where the temperature is averaging 35 degrees.

Migrating flocks generally include loose aggregations of family groups and individuals, in both spring and fall. Flights usually begin at dusk, but may begin anytime of day, and birds fly both night and day. They move in a V formation, with experienced individuals taking turns leading the flock. All About Birds Notes.

Positions:

I have seen a Canada Goose dabble, and I have seen them float. However, I had never seen a goose bobbing belly up with its feet flailing.

Location: Broad Brook Pond Park, East Windsor, Connecticut, United States of America

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