ORNAMENTAL WATERFOWL. I15 
are much dreaded by the cultivators of “guinea corn” (millet), 
on account of the great depredations committed by them 
in the fields. During February they assemble in immense 
flocks, and, collecting together, ‘dash forcibly down upon the 
ears of grain, which, being then in the milk, is passionately 
desired by them, thus striking it down so that it lies on the 
ground, and they can eat it at their ease.” This is usually the 
case during the moonlit nights, when their presence is involun- 
tarily betrayed by the incessant whistling they keep up. The 
Black-billed Whistler nests in cavities or hollow trees, the 
parent bird feigning lameness in order to decoy the intruder 
from her eggs. Dendrocycna arborea has been an inhabitant of 
the Zoological Gardens since 1831, but has not been known to 
breed in captivity. 
Male.—Top of the head black, with a dark brown streak 
down the back ; face and upper neck dirty-white ; lower throat 
spotted black and brown ; breast and neck pale reddish-brown ; 
under parts dirty-white ; upper body dark brown; bill lead 
colour ; legs and feet black. 
Female.—The same. 
Young.—No information. 
Egg.—White. June—September. Incubation, about a 
month. 
FULVOUS TREE DUCK OR WHISTLING DUCK. 
(Dendrocycna fulva). 
This bird has an extended range, being found in the 
South United States, Tropical South America, Tropical Africa, 
Madagascar, the Indian Peninsula, and Burma, arriving in 
Mexico and California, at the close of the wet season, where, 
according to Colonel Grayson, it is seen in large flocks, never 
