FULVOUS TREE DUCK 133 



Wariness. These birds like other Tree Ducks are comparatively tame and easy 

 to shoot. But in northeast Africa they are more shy than the White-faced (von 

 Heuglin, 1873), and in India several writers have noted their wildness as com- 

 pared with the smaller Whistling Teal (Dendrocygna javanica) . Hume and Marshall 

 (1879) state that instead of rising at once when the first shot is fired they keep ris- 

 ing in ones and twos, thus affording numerous good, though all rather long, shots. 

 In California they are said to be easily approached, though hard to find (Grinnell, 

 Bryant and Storer, 1918). There are numerous other collectors and hunters who 

 have found these birds tame in comparison with migratory ducks. In the Argentine, 

 a recent writer, Gibson (1920), found them decidedly stupid birds. 



Daily Movements. These birds are remarkable for their nocturnal habits. 

 In some places they are scarcely seen at all in the daytime and they certainly do 

 almost all their feeding by night. In many places in the literature one finds refer- 

 ences to their great activity at night, and the loud "whistling" or "cackling" of the 

 flocks as they pass over. In California Grinnell, Bryant and Storer (1918) testify to 

 their feeding chiefly by night, while in Africa von Heuglin (1873), found them spend- 

 ing almost the entire day in inaccessible thickets. In India we are told that they are 

 often seen resting during the heat of the day on the grass-covered spits of land which 

 run out into the larger jheels (Baker, 1908). Possibly these nocturnal habits may 

 help to explain the rather tame and gentle nature of the Tree Ducks; for night-feed- 

 ing species are apt to be less alert by day than other birds. 



Flight. On the wing the birds are strong and goose-like in their method of pro- 

 gression, the wing-beats less rapid than in the true ducks. Hume and Marshall 

 (1879) say that, compared to their smaller cousins (Dendrocygna javanica of India) 

 their flight is stronger and more rapid. They rise reluctantly, not in flocks, but in 

 solid blocks and with great clamor (Gibson, 1920). Apparently the flocks are not 

 orderly in their conformation, being described by P. L. Sclater and Hudson (1889) 

 as not long trains or phalanxes like other ducks, but " clouds. " Like the preceding 

 species they are apt to congregate in enormous numbers, and five hundred or more 

 have been noted in one flock. On the wing they are not good-looking, the head and 

 neck seem to droop, and the tail and feet are similarly deflected below the level of 

 the back, producing the effect of a ponderous and labored flight, totally distinct 

 from that of other Anatidce (Gibson, 1920). 



In India and Africa the species seems not to be anything like as abundant as in 

 South America. In India it occurs only in small flocks, and can scarcely be called 

 plentiful. A congregation of one hundred is considered an unusual number, the 

 ordinary flock consisting of only about a dozen to fifteen birds (Hume and Marshall, 

 1879; Baker, 1908; Finn, 1915; etc.). In Africa, von Heuglin describes it as occur- 



