EYTON'S TREE DUCK 



DENDROCYGNA EYTONI (Eyton) 

 (Plate 14) 



Synonymy 

 Leptotarsis eytoni Eyton (ex Gould MS.), Monograph Anatidae, p. Ill, 1838. 

 Dendrocygna eytoni G. R. Gray, List Birds British Mus., pt. 3, p. 132, 1844. 

 Dendrocycna eytoni Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1880, p. 510. 

 Dendrocygna eytoni munna Mathews, Austral Avian Record, vol. 1, p. 86, 1912. 



Vernacular Names 

 English: German: 



Eyton's Tree Duck Gelbfiissige Baumente 



Plumed Whistling Duck Aborigines of Australia: 



Wood Duck Now-e-rayen 



Nowee 



DESCRIPTION 



Adult Male and Female : General color above, brown with an olive shade, the feathers of the upper 

 back and some of the scapulars conspicuously margined with straw color or yellow- white ; wings 

 like the back; upper tail-coverts yellowish buff, each feather having a rounded spot on either web, 

 and a broad tip of dark brown; rump and tail dark brown; crown of the head and hind neck pale 

 ochreous brown; breast pale chestnut brown, transversely barred with black, which is richer in 

 color, and more marked at the sides; abdomen and under tail-coverts buffy white; lengthened 

 lanceolate flank plumes, pale yellowish buff margined with black. 



Bill pale reddish brown, the upper mandible conspicuously blotched with black; legs and feet 

 fleshy brown; iris dark brown. 



Wing 241 mm.; bill 43; tarsus 53 (North, 1913). 



Note: The iris in the few specimens I have seen is orange yellow to orange brown; the legs and feet 

 pink-flesh color and the bill dull pink but heavily mottled all over the culmen with black. Nail of 

 bill horn color. 



Immature: Some specimens, apparently immature, have the dull white of the throat extending on to 

 the sides of the neck, which is grayish white; also the upper part of the fore neck; the black transverse 

 barrings on the breast are narrow and less distinct, and the lanceolate plumes have broader blackish 

 margins. The wing is smaller (North, 1913). In the young specimens which I have seen the barring on 

 the upper abdomen first appears on the sides and the ornamental plumes are at first quite different 

 from adult ones. 



Remarks: The ornamental flank plumes are carried for the most part outside of the wing and reach 

 up in a sort of fan to about the level of the back, or even above it. However, when alarmed, the birds 

 seem to be able to depress them so that they are scarcely noticeable. 



