2 R. W. SHUFELDT, 
bones. I refer especially to the executions on stone of the anserine 
birds made by Mr. G. SCHARF. 
Eyrox, in his „Osteologia Avium“, gives only a few skeletal 
characters of Dendrocygna arcuata, D. autumnalis, and D. arborea, 
which I shall refer to again further on in this paper. He places 
the genus between “Casarka” and Anas, the former being separated 
from Oygnus, by Tadorna and the rest of the true ducks following 
Anas. From this it is evident that he considered these “Tree-Ducks” 
of the genus Dendrocygna as belonging to the Anatinae and not. 
to the swans or geese. 
Sıuvanorı, in the Catalogue of Birds of the British Museum, 
arrayed Dendrocygna with the Anatinae (1895, Vol. 27, p. 142—433). 
In giving the “Key to the Genera” on p. 142 of Subfamily VII 
(Anatinae), he states (a) “Lower portion of tarsus in front without, 
transverse scutellae, but covered with small reticulate scales”, 
and so we have (23) Dendrocygna; (24) Chenalopex; (25) Tadorna;, 
(26) Casarca; (27) Anas; etc. In other words, this distinguished 
authority considers these “Tree-Ducks” to be Anatinae, and 
neither geese nor swans. 
Starrr, in his “Hand-List”, arrays them in a similar manner, 
placing Dendrocygna at the head of the list of Anatinae, followed 
by Alopochen, Tadorna, Casarca, Anas, ete. This authority recognized 
nine species of the genus Dendrocygna, namely: (1) D. viduata, 
(2) D. fulva, (3) D. arcuata, (4) D. javanica, (5) D. autumnalis, (6) D. 
discolor, (7) D. arborea, (8) D. guttulata and (9) D. eytoni. "These 
species are distributed over North and South America; Africa, in- 
cluding Madagascar, W. Indies, India; Celebes, Moluccas, N. Guinea, 
Australia, Philippines, New Zealand, and other localities. De Vıs 
has described a fossil form, D. validipennis, from the Pleistocene of 
Queensland (in: Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales (2), Vol. 3, p. 1282; 1888). 
Most American ornithologists now consider the Fulvous Tree- 
Duck, D. fulva of Gmeum, to be D. bicolor of VırıuLor (A. bicolor 
in: Nouv. Diet. Hist. nat. Vol. 5, 1816, p. 136). 
In the A. O. U. Check-List of North American Birds (Third. ed. 
1910, p. 88), the two species of Dendrocygna are placed between the 
geese and the swans (Anserinae and Cygninae), entirely sepa- 
rated from the ducks, and the majority of American ornithologists 
have followed this classification. Covzs, however, doubted the 
correctness of this; and, in speaking of Dendrocygna, he says: “The 
genus contains about 9 species (including D. [Leptotarsus] eytoni), 
