88 PTERONETTA HARTLAUBI 



Bates (1909) mentions "a raucous noise" made by some of these birds when mat- 

 ing. Sharpe (1907) describes the alarm call as a rapid ko-ko-ko often heard along the 

 streams. Mr. Chapin writes me that the voice is unlike that of any other duck he 

 knows, being heard as they fly over at dawn or dusk and sounding like a loud, 

 hoarse k'ha-k'ha-k'ha-k'ha repeated again and again. He thinks the males are prob- 

 ably the noisy ones, for they have a rounded "labyrinth" on the left side of the 

 syrinx. However, this is far from certain, as the bony labyrinth seems usually to 

 decrease the voice, so that one would expect the noisy sex to be females. 



Food. All the information I have been able to obtain concerning the food of this 

 species comes from Mr. Chapin. He writes: "The stomachs of Pteronetta usually 

 contain sand or pebbles, sometimes small hard seeds as well, but seldom anything 

 else. Only three of ours showed any other food; this consisted of aquatic insect 

 larva? (mainly dragon-flies), snails, two small lamellib ranch mollusks, a shrimp and 

 a spider." 



Courtship and Nesting. Bates was fortunate enough to observe two pairs 

 perched on the large limbs of a cotton tree performing some queer antics. This was 

 in August, and it is reasonable to suppose that the birds were about to nest, for the 

 nesting season seems to be in September and October, judging from the fact that 

 young of all ages have been taken in November. In each of the mating pairs ob- 

 served by Bates the male faced the female, both bowed their heads and rubbed 

 each other's bills and heads, all the while keeping up a "raucous noise"; after a 

 few minutes they flew away. 



This Teal probably selects hollow trees for its nest, but no direct observations 

 have ever been made. In two years Mr. Chapin never found or even heard of a nest, 

 and merely noted that a few old females shot in November still had the ovaries 

 slightly enlarged. He feels certain that they do not breed throughout the whole 

 year. Bates found a female with nine young in late November in the southern 

 Camerun (wet season). Five of these were caught and placed in a pen of wire net- 

 ting where they were kept alive for several weeks. At first, however, they were 

 placed in a keg, but they soon climbed out, using their claws on the rough wood. 

 They also went up the wire netting, partly by jumping several inches at a time, but 

 the power or inclination to climb ceased after a day or two. Bates suggested that 

 this ability to climb was a special endowment indicating a tree-nesting habit for 

 the species. The egg has never been taken and hence remains undescribed. 



Status of Species. Hartlaub's Teal is usually considered a rare bird. Never- 

 theless, it is common far in the interior, as well as in the Gabun region and in the 

 Camerun, while in Liberia it is apparently not very rare. I cannot say whether it has 

 diminished to any extent in recent years. 



