BLACK-BELLIED TREE DUCK 



DENDROCYGNA AUTUMN ALIS (Limit) 

 (Plate 13, young; Plate 11, adult) 



Synonymy 

 Anas autumnalis Linne, Systema Naturae, ed. 10, vol. 1, p. 127, 1758. 

 Dendrocygna autumnalis Eyton, Monograph Anatidse, p. 109, 1838. 

 Dendrocycna autumnalis Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1880, p. 509. 



Veenacular Names 

 English: German: 



Red-billed Whistling Tree Duck Herbst Ente 



Black-bellied Whistling Tree Singente 



Duck Mexico: 



Autumnal Whistling Tree Duck Maizera 



Long-legged Duck Pato maizal 



Cornfield Duck or Corn Duck Pichichi or Pechechene 



Fiddler 



Spanish: 



French: Pato carretaro 



Siffleur a bee rouge Guatemala: 



Siffleur a narines jaunes Pigiie 



Costa Rican: 

 Piche 



DESCRIPTION 



Adult Male and Female: Forehead yellowish brown changing to deep cinnamon on crown, and 

 to black on the occiput, where it forms a black stripe which extends down the back of the neck; re- 

 mainder of head and neck ashy gray, paler on the chin ; lower neck, breast and scapulars rich cinnamon 

 brown; back, rump, upper tail-coverts and abdomen black, the black of the latter region sharply 

 separated from the cinnamon breast; lesser wing-coverts yellowish brown. A white patch formed by 

 greater wing-coverts and another at the base of the primaries; remainder of primaries and all the 

 secondaries black. Tail black; under tail-coverts spotted with white and black. 



Iris brown; bill brilliant rose-color to orange red, a space around the nostrils more yellow; nail 

 bluish or "sky blue"; legs and feet pinky white or nearly "flesh color" (Nutting, 1882). The legs 

 of some live specimens I have seen were very pale flesh-color. 



Wing 217 to 246 mm.; culmen 43 to 53 ; tarsus 52 to 65. 



Note: The Texas birds are slightly larger than birds from Costa Rica, which latter have a wing of 

 only about 230 mm. A specimen from Panama is still smaller, with a wing of 217 mm., a bill of 43 mm., 

 and a tarsus of 52 mm., smaller than the average for Dendrocygna discolor. The northern migrants 

 into Mexico and Texas might possibly be regarded as a slightly larger race. 



