396 ANSERES. — ANATID^. 



end of February, when this corn is reaped. They 

 are most busy in their depredations on moonlight 

 nights; and as they sweep round in circles, their 

 remarkable whistle always betrays their move- 

 ments. 



The young are frequently taken, and brought 

 up in the poultry yard with the tame ducks, 

 either pinioned, or sufficiently subdued by kind- 

 ness to be allowed liberty. These are always 

 found to attract large flocks of their wild brethren 

 to the farm-ponds, and are often preserved for 

 that purpose. The tame birds, which are allowed 

 to roam, even go to a considerable distance in 

 search of the wild flocks, and bring them home. 

 Some, with which Mr. Hill was familiar near 

 Spanish Town, always led the whole flock of 

 aquatic poultry, invariably marching at their head, 

 when called from the pond to be fed, and when 

 fed, returning in the same order to the water again. 



A gentleman of Spanish Town informs me that 

 the nest of this bird is usually at the foot of a 

 mangrove, and that it lays eight or nine eggs. 

 Robinson, however, gives it a diff'erent mode of 

 nidification, having been informed by Mr. Thistle- 

 wood of Savanna le Mar, a copious contributor to 

 his ornithological notes, that *^ the Whistling 

 Ducks sometimes make their nests in hollow 

 trees above thirty feet in height, and the hollows 

 or cavities several feet deep, which makes him at 

 a loss to know by what method the little duck- 

 lings either get up the hollow, or down the tree 

 when up ; but he thinks the old one must carry 



