132 DENDROCYGNA BICOLOR 



sections in summer. In Madagascar the species is not rare either on the coasts or in 

 Madagas- the interior (Milne-Edwards and Grandidier, 1876-81; Hartlaub, 1877, and many 

 car others) ; and it is probably a resident in the island. 



The last distributional area of the Fulvous Tree Duck is India. In the peninsula it appears to be 

 nowhere a common bird, and is especially rare south of the twentieth parallel of north latitude. It is 

 rare but breeds in Sind (Barnes, 1891; Hume and Marshall, 1879; Blanford, 1898), rare 

 in the Punjab and Rajputana, as well as in the Northwest Provinces (Hume and Mar- 

 shall, 1879). It is also rare in Cutch and the Bombay Presidency, and eastward through central 

 Western India; though it occurs in the Central Provinces during the monsoon and breeds at 



India Rungpur, Nadia and Sangor (Hume and Marshall, 1879; Baker, 1908). Jerdon (1864) 



says it is common in parts of the Deccan, as in the northwest of the Nizam's dominions, but Blan- 

 Central ford (1898) is probably more nearly correct when he speaks of the species as rare in 



India Madras and the Deccan. Sherman's statement (Hume and Marshall, 1879) that 



it is common in Travancore is generally regarded as erroneous. For a long time its occurrence in 

 Ceylon was much questioned, but it now seems to be well supported by the evidence of Horsbrugh 

 Southern (1912), who says that he often shot it on the island; and especially by the statement of 

 India Wait (1917) who reports a few specimens taken near Mannar, and says it should be 



looked for on the north coast of the island. Parker (Stray Feathers, vol. 9, p. 487, 1881) also recorded 

 _, . it from Ceylon. But the chief resort of the species in India is the Ganges Valley, and 



Bengal. Hume and Marshall (1879) state that it is not uncommon during the rains in 

 parts of Rohilkhand, Oudh, Gorakhpur and Basti, but Jesse (1903) says it is not resident near Luck- 

 now. It occurs in Nepal (Hodgson, British Museum) and is fairly common on the Ganges below 

 Northern Purneah (Hume and Marshall, 1879). Baker (1908) says that it is common in parts 

 India of eastern Bengal and in Jessore. Farther east it has in late years been found in Assam, 



and on the Brahmaputra (Baker, 1908) and undoubtedly occurs in Upper Burma. E. W. Oates (1883) 

 Northeast states that it is common in Upper Pegu, and occurs in Lower Pegu; while Ramsay 

 India {fide Hume and Marshall, 1879) found it less common on the Tonghoo side of the Pegu- 



Burma Yoma. According to Rippon (1901) it occurs also in the South Shan States, and Hume 



and Marshall (1879) are probably correct in thinking it may occur in Siam, meaning presumably 

 northwestern Siam or West Laos. See also Gyldenstolpe (1920). 



Migration: There is not much evidence of migratory movements of this species in India; the 

 birds apparently breed in the northern sections and most of them stay there for the winter. 

 Its rarity in the southern districts is, I believe, to be attributed to the fact that only a small number 

 change their habitat for the winter. In general such birds as do migrate, start late in the spring, in 

 March or April, and do not leave their breeding areas until November. This is to be explained by 

 the fact that the species breeds very late in the season. 



GENERAL HABITS 



The Fulvous Tree Duck inhabits climates and countries so varied that it is difficult 

 to sum up in a few words the nature of its haunts. In general it is almost entirely a 

 fresh-water species and occupies the same type of country as Dendrocygna viduata 

 and Dendrocygna discolor — fresh-water ponds and lakes in the coast regions of the 

 Guianas (F. P. and A. P. Penard, 1908-10), and in the Argentine, the great over- 

 flow regions of the pampas. It appears to be almost entirely absent from the heavy 

 tropical forests of the Amazons basin. In India it is confined to the very humid dis- 

 tricts (Hume and Marshall, 1879). 



