Fancy Waterfowl

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1900 edition. Excerpt: ...than usual, but the general build is very unlike that of other ducks, being light and reachv, with long neck and shinks, large feet, and long, prominent thighs set well back and close together. The tail is very short, and the wings, though broad and large for the size of the bird, are very short in the flights, which do not appear when the win" is closed, lty this, and by the fact that the wings are Mack beneath, a Whistler may be known at once. The webs of the feet are not so full as in most ducks, and the hind toe is larger than is usually the case; altogether, these birds are rather intermediate in form between ducks and some of the waders. Theii colon ri are very pretty and showy, though no brilliant or metallic hues occur; (hick and drake are quite alike, and the young ditt'er little if at all from them;there is no summer change. The Whistlers are found in warm climates only, but extend all round the world; they are ducks of singularly all-round abilities. Walking without the usual waddle, though with a very erect carriage on land, they are nevertheless good swimmers, and dive nearly aa well as Pochards, like which birds (whose turn will come last of all) they often feed at the bottom, though in order to dive they make a spring which lifts their bodies clear of the surface, instead of going under easily and without effort. They fly slowly, as might be expected from their broad, hollow rounded wings; but this conformation give them much more control over their flight in a small space; and they perch so readily that they are often known as tree ducks, nesting also in trees as a rule. Their call is a cackling whistle, similar in both sexes, whence their more appropriate name, since othei ducks frequent trees, notably those of the...