FULVOUS TREE DUCK 377 



duck; Mexican squealer; Mexican wood-duck; squealer; summer duck; tee-kee; 

 Yankee duck; yellow-bellied fiddler duck; wood duck. 



DESCRIPTION 



ADULTS, BOTH SEXES. Head, yellowish brown, darker on crown where it is 

 more reddish; chin and throat, yellowish white; hindneck, with black stripe from 

 crown to foreback; neck, with collar of white streaked with black, incomplete 

 behind; eye, dark reddish brown to brown; bill, bluish black; nail, black, markedly 

 hooked. Body. Back and scapulars, brownish black, the feathers broadly tipped with 

 reddish brown and buffy; rump, black; chest and breast, buffy brown; belly, paler; 

 sides, reddish buff, longer side-feathers, with broad, creamy stripe bordered below 

 with dusky; feet, deep bluish grey, clumsy, heavy and long; claws, long, dark. 

 Tail, brownish black; upper and under coverts, creamy. Wings. Lesser coverts, 

 chocolate brown; rest of wing, both upper surface and lining, and the axillars, 

 deep blackish brown. 



JUVENILE. During first autumn and 

 winter the juveniles are very similar to 

 the adults, except colours are duller, under- 

 parts paler, wing-coverts paler brown, 

 brown edging to back-feathers narrower, 

 and upper tail-coverts tipped with brown. 

 After the first postnuptial moult during 

 the following summer, the plumage is, 

 probably, fully adult. 



SPECIMEN IDENTIFICATION 



General effect: A brownish duck, with 

 a very long neck, and long legs and feet. Chief distinguishing features (a) hind 

 toe, without lobe, (b) bill, bluish black, (c) feet, deep bluish grey, (d) breast, 

 buffy brown. 



This duck can be confused only with the Black- 

 bellied Tree duck; but the bill of that species is light 

 red, feet pinkish white and breast black. 



FIELD MARKS 



ON THE WATER OR IN FLIGHT. The sexes 

 are alike and are readily recognized by their tawny- 

 brown colour and very long legs. On land their long 

 legs give them an odd and characteristic appearance; 

 they crowd together, crane their necks and look ex- 

 tremely tall. On the wing the feet extend past the tail 

 in a most unduck-like manner. The flight is strong and 

 goose-like, and the wing-beats are less rapid than 

 those of the true ducks; the head and neck, and the 

 tail and feet, droop below the level of the back. On 

 alighting, the neck is stretched downward until the 

 bill almost touches the toes. 



VOICE. A long, squealing whistle; a high, short- 

 cut whistle; when rising from land or water, a clamour 

 of whistling voices. 



Alighting 



