WHITE-FACED TREE DUCK 121 



that it arrives on the coast in flocks during November and December and that it breeds. In south- 

 ern Zululand, according to Claude Grant (W. L. Sclater, 1912) it is a very common 

 species. Woodward (1899) has recorded it from Durban Harbor, and W. Ayres (1887) 

 from the Umlazi River. But this record is the southernmost, and it serves to fix the southern limit of 

 the range at exactly 30° south latitude. There is only one record, so far as I know, for Cape 

 the Cape Colony (C. G. Davies, 1908), and none for the Orange River Colony. Colony 



In Madagascar this species is very common, and apparently is found throughout the island (Roch 

 and E. Newton, 1863; Pollen and van Dam, 1868; Hartlaub, 1877; Milne-Edwards and Grandidier, 

 1876-81). It is also fairly abundant on Reunion Island, where it was introduced (Sibree, Madagascar 

 1892) and on Mauritius, where it appears to have been introduced, though it is not so Reunion 

 common there now (Meinertzhagen, 1912). It is common, however, on the Comoros -Ma 1111 * 1113 

 (Sibree, 1892) and has been specifically recorded for Mayotta Island in that group (Pollen and 

 van Dam, 1868). 



A specimen was taken on the Hackensack Meadows in the State of New Jersey (Grinnell, Auk, vol. 

 30, p. 110, 1913), but this was almost certainly an escaped bird, as the species has New Jersey 

 been very commonly kept in zoological collections everywhere. 



Origin of the Species in South America: Various theories have been advanced in the attempt 

 to explain the occurrence of the White-faced and Fulvous Tree Ducks in the Old and New Worlds. 

 P. L. Sclater (1864, p. 299) suggests that Dendrocygna viduata may have been introduced into Amer- 

 ica at the time of the early slavers, as these birds are "very tame and domestic, and often carried 

 about on board ship." This explanation can hardly be considered as reasonable. No more acceptable 

 to students of zoogeography would be the theory that the genus is an extremely old one, possibly 

 dating from Tertiary times, when a Brazilian-Ethiopian continent was in existence (Heinroth, 1918), 

 because such a continent could only have existed previous to the development of highly specialized 

 ornithological types like the ducks. Much more reasonable is it to suppose that they exist in the two 

 continents simply because they are strong-flying birds of a wandering nature, and the trade winds 

 would easily account for their crossing the scant twelve hundred miles of ocean that separate Africa 

 from South America. The Scaup Ducks of South America and Africa, Nyroca nationi and Nyroca 

 brunea, present a similar case, for as nearly as I can determine they will have to be considered as one 

 and the same species. 



GENERAL HABITS 



The name Tree Duck is a misnomer for this species, for most authorities agree that 

 it is seldom seen perching. In captivity, certainly, it is never seen off the water or 

 land, and spends most of its time walking or standing on the bank. Inhabiting as 

 it does, almost the whole of South America and Africa, it lives, of necessity, in 

 widely different types of country — treeless, semi-desert regions flooded during the 

 short rainy season, tropical rivers, swamps, salt-water lagoons, and mouths of the 

 larger rivers. Nearly everywhere it is extremely abundant, but less so as one enters 

 the dense rain forests. 



Wariness. White-faced Tree Ducks are not particularly wary, and it is rather 

 characteristic that when flushed they circle about without going off to any distance. 

 Soon after they pitch down again. Von Heuglin (1873) speaks of it as less shy than 

 most ducks, and, so far as I know, only Buttikofer (1885) considers it a particularly 



