126 DENDROCYGNA VIDUATA 



seen in zoological gardens and private collections the world over. Specimens were 

 first received by the London Zoological Society in 1835, and have, as a rule, been 

 plentiful in the bird-markets of the world. Hubbard (1907) gives the price as from 

 £3 to £5 per pair, and Mr. L. S. Crandall {in lift.) informs me that the New York Gar- 

 dens have obtained them for as low a figure as $8.00 each. I kept this species myself 

 for five or six years, and always considered it one of the less interesting ducks, on 

 account of its inactive and sluggish nature. In confinement they soon become very 

 tame, learn to rely entirely for their food on the grain that is given them, and are 

 seldom seen in active search for the wild food which may be present in the pond. 

 Like many other tropical species they are sufficiently hardy to need no special pro- 

 tection beyond the shelter ordinarily given to all water-fowl in northern regions. 

 Horsbrugh (1912) found that they required protection in severe weather in England, 

 and would often succumb to a "hard frost." They certainly suffer less from cold, 

 however, than do Blue-winged Teal, Garganeys, and Shovellers; and they undoubt- 

 edly live as long as the true ducks if not longer. There is a record of eleven years for 

 the Zoological Gardens at Frankfurt a. M. (Schmidt, 1878), and in 1883, the London 

 Gardens possessed three specimens that had been living there since 1862, and 

 another that had been received in 1863? (Sclater, 1883). Four specimens in the New 

 York gardens lived from six and one half to seven and one half years. 



None of the Tree Ducks breeds readily in captivity, and this species never nested, 

 so far as is known, until recent years. Flower (1910) mentions sixteen bred in the 

 Giza Gardens, Cairo, but does not say whether they were reared from home-laid 

 eggs or not. Heinroth (1911) mentions a certain Mr. Sammereier, a Bavarian 

 breeder, who had a pair which bred several times. It was with this pair that the 

 male's participation in incubation was noted. In England the birds have nested 

 several times on private estates, but the young nearly always died at an early age, 

 in spite of all the precautions that were taken. A post-mortem examination in the 

 case of young one week old showed pneumonia to have been the cause of death 

 (Pocock, London Field, January 9, 1915). Mr. Wormald, however, in a letter 

 (January 13, 1920) informs me that a friend of his who had failed for three consecu- 

 tive years, sent him nine eggs, all of which hatched, and six of the young were reared 

 to maturity. A pair kept by Mr. Duncan at Knossington Grange, Oakham, England, 

 bred for three years, and in 1912 hatched out ten young ones (London Field, July 

 12, 1912). Heinroth (1911) mentions the fact that two were raised under a hen in 

 the Berlin Gardens. 



The nest which a pair built on Lord Lilford's estate was very cleverly hidden, 

 long bents of grass being brought over so that the sitting bird was completely con- 

 cealed (Pocock, loc. tit.) ; and this habit probably accounts for the extreme difficulty 

 in finding their nests in the wild state. 



By far the best account of these birds from the avicultural standpoint is to be 



