RUNNER DUCKS.
[To THE EDITOR OP THE " 8PECTATOB.") Sia,—The letters on " A Freak of Nature " have suggested to me to write on the curious change that takes place in the feathers of the Indian Runner duck, when it is in lay or the reverse. When the ducks are laying the feathers turn khaki colour, gradually getting more and more sandy, but in the winter and the periods between one batch of eggs and another the feathers are brown. It is a sure sign that the Indian Runner is coming into lay when the feathers begin to assume their yellow shade. 'This change is analogous to the enlargement or shrinking of the comb of hens, in the large-combed varieties, when they are in lay or not. I have never seen this change noted before, but bare aeon it over and over again in my own
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