BLACK-BILLED TREE DUCK 173 



1872) describes how a female coaxed her young to drop from a tree, and Hilaire (Bull. 

 Soc. d'Acclimat., Paris, ser. 2, vol. 10, p. 371, 1873) simply states that they had bred 

 several times in France. He gives no details, and I hardly think it wise to take these 

 old records too seriously. Blaauw's pair made a nest under a bush some distance 

 from the water, and laid five eggs, which were successfully hatched after thirty 

 days' incubation. The young did not survive long on account of cold weather. The 

 skins of some of them are now in the Leyden Museum. 



These Tree Ducks have been known to live to a considerable age in captivity. In 

 the London Gardens, where so many were successfully kept, there were four speci- 

 mens still living in 1883 that had been received there just twenty years before. 



In England before the War these birds were occasionally for sale at £3 to £4 

 the pair (Hubbard, 1907), while in New York they sold for $7.50 each. 



Throughout the Bahamas Black-billed Tree Ducks are frequently seen about the 

 houses of natives, where they are raised from wild-caught young or hatched from eggs 

 taken from nests. They are easily tamed and English (1916) even tells of endeavor- 

 ing to set free a pair that he had raised from the duckling stage; — after being at 

 liberty for several weeks they returned to their accustomed quarters, calling vigor- 

 ously until they were admitted. They could not again be induced to leave. 



It has even been said that tame birds go out and bring back wild flocks to the 

 farm ponds, often from some distance (Gosse, 1847). Tamed birds are also kept 

 pinioned, and it is said that natives frequently capture young birds in the wild, cut 

 one wing and give them back to the parents to rear, not recapturing them again until 

 they are full grown. It appears that they dominate other ducks and poultry, and are 

 invariably seen at the head of a flock of these. They have a curious habit of caring 

 for strange young birds, either chickens or ducks, and defending them against all 

 enemies, even dogs (Gundlach, 1875). 



It is certainly a remarkable fact that birds which take so readily to the surround- 

 ings of a farmyard should be so difficult to breed, but this is true of the whole genus. 



