MUSCOVY DUCK 61 



of the Cecropia (Wied, 1832). During the daytime they remain in the forests for the 

 most part, in the evening resorting to their feeding-grounds, or flighting up and 

 down the streams. When alarmed the members of a flock immediately disperse. 



Flight; Voice. Again according to Wied, the flight is extremely fast and causes 

 a whistling sound. The voice is very weak, and, so Heinroth (1911) affirms, "as 

 good as absent." During great excitement males in confinement emit a soft, blow- 

 ing hiss, accompanied by a drawing back and thrusting forward of the head. In the 

 female Heinroth noted a similar but somewhat higher-pitched blowing sound, and 

 during a period of very great fear a high, frequently repeated quack. The downy 

 young peep like other related Anatidoe, but not very loudly. I cannot recall any 

 sound made by the few Muscovies that I have kept myself. 



The trachea, a plate of which may be found in Eyton's monograph of the Anatidoe 

 (1838), carries a bony pouch at its lower end, in the male sex only. This is left-sided, 

 irregular in shape, and about an inch in longest diameter. 



Food. The Penards (1908-10) state that the Muscovy feeds on small fish, insects, 

 small reptiles, and water-plants. They seem to like termites (white ants) particu- 

 larly, and to obtain these the birds have to break open the termite nests with their 

 bills. There are a number of other notes on the food of the species in various parts of 

 Central and South America, but I am aware of few careful analyses of stomach con- 

 tents. Beebe (1909) saw them sifting mud for organic material, and running awk- 

 wardly after the small mangrove crabs in brackish or salt-water coves, in northeastern 

 Venezuela. Another writer includes seeds, water-insects, mollusks, snails, worms, 

 and water-plants in their diet, while there is an old note by Gurney and Fisher (1847) 

 relating the stealing and swallowing of live fish from a tub of water by a domestic 

 bird. Not much importance can be attached to this, however, as many species when 

 deprived of their proper food in captivity will greedily catch and eat live minnows. 

 Muscovies do not, however, confine themselves to wild food, but resort, especially 

 at night, to grain-fields. Sclater and Salvin (1876) speak of their plucking up the 

 roots of the Mandioca. Lord William Percy told me that those he collected near 

 Panama were feeding on the seeds of a water-lily. Two stomachs collected by him, 

 on March 14, 1920, in the Canal Zone, were examined by Mr. W. L. McAtee, and 

 found to contain a trace of animal matter (insects), ground-up seeds of a Pontederiad, 

 a seed of Fimbristylus, and other seeds unidentified. 



Courtship and Nesting. The Penards (1908-10) found the males fighting vio- 

 lently during the breeding season in an endeavor to abduct one another's mates. It is 

 interesting to note from these observations and from those of Heinroth (1911) that 

 Muscovies are very distinctly polygamous. The former observers found the males 



