File:A natural history of the ducks (1922) (14578306239).jpg

Identifier: naturalhistoryof01phil (find matches)
Title: A natural history of the ducks
Year: 1922 (1920s)
Authors: Phillips, John C. (John Charles), 1876-1938
Subjects: Ducks
Publisher: Boston New York : Houghton Mifflin company
Contributing Library: Boston Public Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Boston Public Library

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he winter.Its rarity in the southern districts is, I believe, to be attributed to the fact that only a small numberchange their habitat for the winter. In general such birds as do migrate, start late in the spring, inMarch or April, and do not leave their breeding areas until November. This is to be explained bythe fact that the species breeds very late in the season. GENERAL HABITS The Fulvous Tree Duck inhabits climates and countries so varied that it is difficultto sum up in a few words the nature of its haunts. In general it is almost entirely afresh-water species and occupies the same type of country as Dendrocygna viduataand Dendrocygna discolor — fresh-water ponds and lakes in the coast regions of theGuianas (F. P. and A. P. Penard, 1908-10), and in the Argentine, the great over-flow regions of the pampas. It appears to be almost entirely absent from the heavytropical forests of the Amazons basin. In India it is confined to the very humid dis-tricts (Hume and Marshall, 1879).
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Map 12. Distribution of Fulvous Tree Duck (Dendrocygna bicolor) FULVOUS TREE DUCK 133 Wariness. These birds like other Tree Ducks are comparatively tame and easyto shoot. But in northeast Africa they are more shy than the White-faced (vonHeuglin, 1873), and in India several writers have noted their wildness as com-pared with the smaller Whistling Teal (Dendrocygna javanica). Hume and Marshall(1879) state that instead of rising at once when the first shot is fired they keep ris-ing in ones and twos, thus affording numerous good, though all rather long, shots.In California they are said to be easily approached, though hard to find (Grinnell,Bryant and Storer, 1918). There are numerous other collectors and hunters whohave found these birds tame in comparison with migratory ducks. In the Argentine,a recent writer, Gibson (1920), found them decidedly stupid birds. Daily Movements. These birds are remarkable for their nocturnal habits.In some places they are scarcely seen at all in the dayt

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