ORNAMENTAL WATERFOWL. {11 
feeders and gregarious, living in large flocks, and are mono- 
gamous, the female being much attached to her young, which 
she conveys to the water when hatched, in her bill or claws. 
Their eggs are whitish, the breeding season lasting in most 
instances from June to September. 
WHITE-FACED TREE DUCK OR WHISTLING DUCK. 
(Dendrocycna viduata). 
These birds, first received by the Zoological Society in 
1835, are said to exist in enormous numbers in South America, 
where they spend the hot hours perching on the branches of 
the trees overhanging swamps. Dr. Brehm states that he has 
met them on the Upper Blue Nile in such numbers that on 
taking wing they presented the appearance of a dense cloud. 
In Baird, Brewer, and Ridgeway’s work on the “ Birds of North 
America,” the White-faced Whistler is stated never to alight in 
deep water, on account of the alligators, of which it has a great 
dread. These Ducks, known to dealers as “Widow” Ducks, 
are constantly exhibited, being sufficiently plentiful in the market 
as to be obtainable at from £3 to £5 the pair, and are a most 
desirable addition to the duck pond, becoming extremely tame, 
and even attached to their keeper. In exhibiting this species 
it is necessary for the judges to ascertain that the pen contains 
a veritable male and female, as the plumage being exactly 
similar, it is, in some cases, almost impossible to identify the 
sex at a first glance. The colours, however, in the female are 
less bright, and the edges of contrasting colours not quite so 
sharply defined as in the male. 
Male.—Face and cheeks (to behind the eye), pure white ; 
chin, and a band round front of throat, white; back’ of head 
and neck black, extending to under the chin; upper neck and 
breast dark chestnut ; back dark brown, with an olive shade ; 
