PINK-EARED DUCK 



MALACORHYNCHUS MEMBRANACEUS (Latham) 

 (Plate 49) 



Synonymy 



Anas membranacea Latham, Index Ornith., Suppl., p. lxix, 1801. 

 Anas fasciata Shaw, Naturalist's Misc., vol. 17, pi. 697, 1790-1813. 

 Rhynchas'pis membranacea Stephens, General Zool., vol. 12, pt. 2, p. 124, 1824. 

 Malacorhynchus membranaceus Swainson, Journ. Royal Inst. Gt. Britain, vol. 2, 



no. 4, p. 18, 1831. 

 Malacorhynchus fasciatus Wagler, Oken's Isis, 1832, p. 1235. 

 Malacorhynchus membrinaceus Eyton, Monograph Anatidse, p. 136, 1838. 

 Malacorhynchus iodotis Lesson, Descrip. Mamm. et Oiseaux, p. 246, 1847. 

 Anas malacorhyncha Schlegel (nee Grnelin), Mus. Pays-Bas, Anseres, p. 36, 1866. 

 Malacorhynchus malacorhynchus Hartert, Kat. Vogelsamml. Mus. Ges. Frankfurt, 



p. 232, 1891. 

 Malacorhynchus membranaceus assimilis Mathews, Austral Avian Record, vol. 1, 



p. 86, 1912. 



Vernacular Names 

 English: Pink-eared Duck, Pink-eyed Duck, Whistling Duck, Membranaceous 



Duck, Zebra Duck, Widgeon (Victoria). 

 German: Rotaugenente. 

 Aborigines of Australia: Gewallert, Wymbin. 



DESCRIPTION 



Adult Male: Forehead whitish, shading into gray on the crown, a large patch of blackish brown 

 around and below the eye, extending backward along sides of crown to the nape. On each side of the 

 head behind the eye is a light pinkish spot. Lores, throat and a narrow eye-ring white. Sides of face, 

 neck, upper mantle, breast and flanks white or buffy white, regularly barred with dark brown. On 

 the abdomen and under tail-coverts the bars are narrow or obsolete. Lower mantle dark brown with 

 irregular buff-colored bars. Scapulars and upper wing-coverts brown, finely vermiculated with buff. 

 Wings slate brown with a wide white band at the tips of the secondaries. Inner primaries also tipped 

 with white. Rump and upper tail-coverts blackish, but a wide white band across the tips of the 

 latter feathers. Tail dark brown to blackish, the feathers tipped with a white band. 



Bill and feet slaty blue; iris brown (Mathews). 



Wing 181-195 mm.; culmen 62-68; tarsus 35-44. 



Weight from one half to three fourths of a pound (0.22 to 0.34 kilogram). 



Adult Female: Similar in plumage to the male and only distinguished by the smaller size. 

 Wing 177 mm. (plus?); culmen 57 (plus?); tarsus 31 (plus?). 



Note: I have not been able to study either the juvenal stage or the downy young. Specimens are 

 still few in European, and especially in American, collections. 



