162 DENDROCYGNA AUTUMN ALIS 



1750, for Edwards (1743-51) drew his plate from a specimen which presumably was 

 a live one, in Sir Charles Wager's gardens. The London Zoological Society possessed 

 specimens before 1831 (P. L. Sclater, 1880). But apparently there is only one place 

 in Europe where the birds have nested, and that is on the estate of M. Herbert, Sr., 

 at Havre, France (Hilaire, BuH. Soc. d'Acclimat., Paris, ser. 2, vol. 10, p. 371, 1873). 



Like other Tree Ducks these birds become remarkably tame in captivity, and, 

 having passed one moult, they are quite hardy. Nevertheless they suffer when exposed 

 to cold and wind, being subject to diarrhoea and kindred complaints. They require 

 a little animal food during the fall and winter to enable them to pass safely through 

 the moult (Hubbard, 1907). Rogeron (1903) also noted their sensitiveness to cold. 

 On ornamental waters the birds usually keep very much to themselves, but some- 

 times associate with other Tree Ducks. As Rogeron (1903) has remarked, they will 

 have almost nothing to do with ducks of other genera. 



They attain an advanced age at times. In 1883 the London Gardens had four 

 specimens which had been living there for the past nineteen years, and Rogeron 

 (1903) says he kept a male for fifteen or twenty years. One in the National Zoolog- 

 ical Park in Washington lived nearly ten years and a half. 



The price paid for these ducks has varied from £2 to £7 per pair in England 

 (Hubbard, 1907), and Mr. L. S. Crandall writes me that in New York the price 

 averaged about $5.00 each before the War. 



Although never truly domesticated in the sense of perpetuating themselves like 

 farmyard fowls, these ducks are very commonly kept by natives in various parts of 

 Mexico and Central America. This tame stock is acquired both by rearing young 

 birds caught in the wild state, and by hatching out eggs taken from nests. Not only 

 do they serve as pets and as food, but they are also useful in sounding alarm notes 

 at the approach of strangers. In Costa Rica they are found about almost every 

 house, going off to feed in the daytime, but returning at night (Richmond, 1893; 

 Carriker, 1910). M'Leannan (Sclater and Salvin, 1864) tells the story of two tame 

 birds in Panama who entered the house at all hours and walked around the table 

 looking for food. They commenced calling just before daybreak. 



