MUSCOVY DUCK 65 



Heinroth (1911) has noted a very peculiar and interesting point of behavior in his 

 semi-wild birds in the Berlin Zoological Gardens, which he had never seen in any 

 other water-fowl except a certain hybrid. (It is quite possible that this is a display 

 phenomenon.) He says his Muscovies, regardless of age and sex, often stand to- 

 gether, holding their heads and bills in an almost vertical position, while they carry 

 out snapping movements with their bills. Those who have not seen it suppose that 

 the birds are trying to catch insects out of the air, and this remarkable "play" is 

 frequently long continued. They are really feeling around in the air above them 

 with half -opened bills; some observers have received the impression that they 

 were actually trying to swallow their tongues. There seems to be no explanation 

 for this remarkable performance except as I have suggested above. Again, Heinroth, 

 in continuing his account of the behavior of this species, says that angry males 

 thrust their heads and necks under water before starting to attack an adversary. 

 But in this case the conduct expresses great excitement and it is not a prelude to the 

 mating performance as seen in other swimming birds. 



When the birds are about to take wing they make aiming motions with their 

 bills (a habit seen also in doves, Carolina Ducks and other birds), at the same time 

 moving the head slowly up and down. 



Concerning its relationship to other water-birds, it may be said that Muscovies 

 lord it over nearly all others and copulate freely with any other species of Anatidoe, 

 producing various sterile hybrids. Males have even been known to attempt mating 

 with a domestic hen, and they have crossed with the Spur-winged Goose in the New 

 York Zoological Gardens producing young that lived only a few days. Heinroth 

 (1911) discovered that they fought not only with their bills and wings, but also 

 with their strong claws. He found the old males quite dangerous to handle, and says 

 it is rarely possible to get away without a few bloody scratches. Others, however, 

 do not find Muscovies particularly combative. 



Domestic birds like to nest in burrows or sheltered places. There is one instance 

 of a pair building in the steeple of a church in Sussex, England, ninety feet from the 

 ground among the bells. Here the female laid eight eggs (Hussey, 1858). 



H. W. Robinson (1914) watched a female push her newly hatched young off a 

 beam in a barn forty feet from the floor, and says they landed uninjured. 



Thomas Bell (1850) relates an interesting performance of a domestic Muscovy. 

 One day, after feeding and bathing, and before she returned to her nest, this female 

 carefully passed the point of her bill over every egg. Then she singled one of them 

 out, removed it in her bill to a distance of about three yards, broke it by a stroke of 

 the bill and then returned to her duties of incubation, perfectly contented. The egg 

 proved to be addled. There are a few instances of similar behavior in other ducks. 



Under domestication the old males reach a great weight, up to about twelve 

 pounds, and become gradually unable to fly. This is rather curious, because in the 



