WHITE-WINGED WOOD-DUCK 55 



and in a suitable locality a couple of brace may be got in a day, 

 not, of course, without considerable exertion. The birds spend 

 much of their time on trees, and generally occur in pairs or even 

 alone ; flocks do not generally number more than half a dozen 

 when met with. 



Although so easily tamed that except in the breeding season 

 they can be allowed liberty and even the use of their wings, they 

 are very wary and hard to get near in the wild state. The flight 

 and call are described as goose-like, the note being a loud 

 squawking or trumpeting ; nothing is said about there being any 

 sexual difference in the voice, nor does the male's courting 

 behaviour appear to have been recorded. 



Those Mr. Baker kept do not, indeed, seem to have shown 

 much inclination to breed beyond pairing regularly, and he found 

 them remarkably good-tempered. This is probably a sign that 

 they were never in real high condition, for birds that go in pairs 

 ought normally to want to "clear the decks" when they think 

 of nesting. Hume similarly found Brahminy ducks very gentle 

 and amiable, whereas, as I have said in my account of that 

 species, they are really quite the reverse if determined on 

 domesticity. A single female wood-duck in the London Zoo 

 recently was sluggish in her habits, and quiet when with 

 Muscovy ducks, but when among the smaller water-fowl I have 

 seen her make a spiteful grab at one now and again. I noticed 

 that the gait on land and style of floating in the water, in this 

 bird, were not in the least like those of the nukta or sheldrakes, 

 with both of which this species has been associated, but like that 

 of an ordinary duck such as the mallard or spotted-bill. The 

 squawking voice, goose-like flight, style of wing-marking, and 

 general habits, however, seem to point out that this bird is really 

 a peculiar type of sheldrake, and the swelling of the drake's beak 

 in spring is similar to what happens in the common sheldrake, 

 as well as in the nukta. 



Although Mr. Baker's specimens dived freely to catch live 

 fish put in their tank, the wild birds are found not to dive when 

 wounded, but to go ashore and hide in the jungle. They like 

 various small animals, such as snails, insects and frogs, as well 

 as fish, and prefer these to grain in captivity, though they would 



