82 ASARCORNIS SCUTULATA 



GENERAL HABITS 



Baker (1908) gives the only really satisfactory account of this rare and handsome 

 duck. In Burma the White-winged Wood Duck inhabits a large area of virgin 

 forest along the foothills of the Himalayas, which is devoid of cultivation, but broken 

 up by many swamps or lakes of all sizes. Among the smaller sheets of water the 

 ducks are found in pairs or singly, and never in companies of more than five or six. 

 They seem always to be wary, and Baker thinks that they do not dive when wounded, 

 but swim to the nearest shore and scramble into the woods. They also inhabit 

 smaller patches of jungle where suitable pools are to be found, but are never to be 

 met on clear waters of swift streams. 



At Trang, in the northern part of the Malay Peninsula, Robinson and Kloss 

 (1911) found them flying down to the partially flooded rice-fields to feed in the 

 early morning or late afternoon. In the evening after feeding they went to roost in 

 the patches of jungle growing on small steep hills rising from the general level of the 

 rice-fields. According to Baker (1908) the flight is gooselike. A flock of seven, the 

 largest he ever saw, flew in a line like geese and at a distance would probably have 

 been mistaken for geese. 



This Wood Duck apparently does not associate with other species. At least the 

 literature gives no information on this point. 



Both Baker and Graham (vide Hume and Marshall, 1879) have heard this species 

 calling. The former describes the note as loud and gooselike. In addition to the 

 "ringing trumpet call" of this bird, both sexes indulge in a very low quacking note, 

 sounding very much as though a Mallard were trying to quack under its breath. 

 While uttering this note the head is always held low and the bill wide open. They 

 also make a hissing noise when angry. Another writer (Gyldenstolpe, 1916) speaks 

 of a faint quacking sound. 



Food. Nothing is known of its diet beyond the note of Robinson and Kloss (1911) 

 that it feeds in rice-fields, and that the specimens examined had been feeding on 

 very large snails, apparently a species of "Ampullaria." In captivity they were 

 omnivorous and proved to be very fond of small fishes, and expert at catching them. 

 They preferred animal food to grain, green food, and water-plants (Baker, 1908). 



Courtship and Nesting. Almost nothing is known of the nesting habits of the 

 White-wing. One nest, described by Baker, was taken from a deep hollow caused by 

 a decay at the first bifurcation of the trunk of a tree standing on the banks of a 

 stream. The nest was said by the native who found it to be a mass of grass and 

 other rubbish with a lining of feathers and down. Baker was told also that the birds 

 did not always nest in holes of trees, but sometimes made rough nests on masses of 



