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ANAS SPARSA 
Association with other Species. The kind of country it inhabits and its 
solitary nature make association with other species of ducks purely accidental. 
Voice. There are no satisfactory published descriptions of the voice. Several 
observers have described it as a loud quack or as “ resembling that of the Mallard ” 
(Stark and Sclater, 1906; W. L. Sclater, 1912a). Blaauw (1917) has given a very 
different idea. Although he does not write about it in detail he says it is not at all 
like the voice of the typical Mallard-like ducks. He described it to me as a low 
sort of whistle (not at all like a Widgeon’s) from the male, and an ordinary quack 
from the female. I never heard it but once myself and this was in the London Gar- 
dens in May. The female at that time was giving an occasional subdued or obscure 
quack. The male had a sort of wheezing note but I could not hear it very well 
among a lot of other water-fowl. On the whole, though, the notes were more 
Mallard-like than I had supposed that they would be. 
Food. Von Heuglin (1873) observes that in Abyssinia these birds drop down on 
the barley-fields to seek worms or snails or to pick fresh grass-sprouts. Some of their 
food is obtained in shallow water and some by diving. T. Ayres (1880) found the 
whole oesophagus of some specimens crammed with grass seeds. 
Courtship and Nesting. In South Africa the Black Duck breeds over a long 
period, from about August to December, but eggs have been found as late as Feb- 
ruary near King William’s Town (Stark and Sclater, 1906), and in July near Pre- 
toria (L. E. Taylor, 1906). On the Zambesi, Kirk (1864) found young in March. He 
says that the adults appear during the rains to breed, and leave at the end of April. 
In southern Rhodesia they have been noted breeding in June (Mouritz, 1915). A 
brood was found in January on Ruwenzori at an altitude of 10,000 feet (Ogilvie- 
Grant, 1910) and it undoubtedly breeds throughout the year in the tropical regions, 
though there are no data to corroborate this statement. At the northern extremity 
of its range, in Abyssinia, it nests in the spring. After spending the winter in the 
low country a few pairs break away in March and go to the pools and rush-over- 
grown hollows as well as to standing pools in the mountain streams (von Heuglin, 
1873). Von Erlanger (1905) found birds about to breed early in February (altitude 
2700 meters). 
So few nests have been described that it is impossible to make a general statement 
as to the locality usually chosen. It would not be surprising if the birds were found 
to nest in hollows of decayed trees or in nests of other species. Mr. Bowker found a 
nest on the Caledon River, Basutoland, placed in a mass of drift in an overhanging 
willow tree, about fifteen feet from the ground and six feet from the water, in a 
hollow of the rotten wood under the wrack (Layard, 1875-84) ; and a nest was found 
in a somewhat similar position on the Buffalo River near King William’s Town 
