2106 FLAMINGOES, DUCKS, AND SCREAMERS 



it unfortunately falls under the tender mercies of butchers. When absolutely re- 

 quired for food, a pair or so may be shot, but they are indifferent eating, and fly 

 so poorly that they really afford no sport. ' ' Their deficiency in the matter of flight, 

 is, however, counterbalanced by their expertness in swimming and diving, a 

 wounded bird being most difficult to capture. When not on the wing, these birds 

 are most commonly seen either feeding on the water, or resting on trees. Chiefly 

 vegetarians, they subsist largely on rice, as well as various water plants, but also 

 consume insects and mollusks. They derive their name of whistling teal from their 

 double hissing whistle-like note, which is always uttered when the birds are alarmed 

 or about to fly, and is often repeated during flight, although but seldom heard when 

 they are feeding or at rest. The nest may be situated either in a hollow tree or be- 

 tween the forks of a large branch, or on the ground, and if built by the birds them- 

 selves is unlined; a deserted crow's nest is, however, often taken advantage of. The 

 number of eggs is usually from ten to twelve. Curiously enough, when the nest is 

 in a tree, the young are carried down by the parent birds to the water. Mr. Hume 

 has observed the ducklings carried in the claws of their parents, but it has been 

 stated that they are sometimes borne on their backs. 



The handsome birds known as sheldrakes ( Tadorna}, which are near 

 relations of the tree ducks, may be regarded as the first representatives of 

 the subfamily Anatincg, in which are included all the more typical ducks. 

 The members of this group are relatively short-necked birds of smaller size than the 

 true geese, from which they differ in having the front of the metatarsus covered 

 with scutes, and the length of that segment shorter than the third toe, while they 

 are further characterized by having only a small membrane attached to the first toe. 

 The beak is variable, and the number of tail feathers ranges from fourteen to eight- 

 een. In the males, the lower end of the windpipe is dilated, as it is in the spur- 

 winged and Egyptian goose, the comb ducks, etc. None of these birds are in the 

 habit of diving for their food. The sheldrakes resemble the tree ducks in that the 

 plumage of the two sexes is nearly alike; but in the ducks there is usually great dif- 

 ferences be'tween the two, the males having a very beautiful coloration, with a bright 

 metallic patch or speculum, on the wing. The sheldrakes further agree with the tree 

 ducks in having but a single annual molt; whereas, in many of the ducks, the 

 males molt their contour feathers once in the early summer and again in autumn. 

 The subfamily comprises a very large number of species arranged under many gen- 

 era, and having an almost world- wide distribution, although most widely spread 

 during the winter on the Northern Hemisphere. The exigencies of space admit of 

 a reference only to some of the more important genera. In addition to the similar- 

 ity in the coloration of the sexes and their single molt, the sheldrakes are charac- 

 terized by the presence of a conspicuous white patch on the front of the wing, by the 

 relative length of the metatarsus (above which a portion of the tibia is bare), and 

 also by the prevalence of chestnut, black, and white often in strongly-contrasting 

 masses in the plumage. The beak is about equal in length to the head, and higher 

 than broad at the base (near which are situated the nostrils), with the nail bent 

 down and hooked. In the long and powerful wings, the second quill is the longest. 

 The sheldrakes form a group of six species, breeding in the temperate regions of 



