Dendrocygna guttulata Wallace, Proc. Zool. Soc. (1863), 36;
Sharpe, Hand-List (1899), 1, 215; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List
(1906), 37.
Dendrocygna guttata Salvadori, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1895), 27,
164, pl. 1.
Basilan (McGregor); Mindanao (Platen). Celebes, Moluccas, New
Guinea, Tenimber Islands.
"Adult male and female.--Upper part of head dark brown; a black
line along hind neck; back and wings dusky brown; feathers of back,
scapulars, and wing-coverts edged with pale brown; lores brown;
superciliary stripe, sides of head, and upper part of neck grayish,
with dusky cross-lines, giving a mottled appearance; chin and
throat uniform whitish; lower part of neck dusky with white spots;
rump brown; upper tail-coverts black, basal ones broadly barred with
white; upper breast rufous-brown, each feather with a white spot at
the tip; lower breast and abdomen whitish, with faint dusky lines
across; feathers of flanks with large, white, round spots, the longer
feathers are almost barred with black; under tail-coverts whitish,
with black bars; quills brown; tail almost black. 'Bill black;
tarsi and feet ashy, more or less tinged with reddish; iris brown
or chestnut.' (D'Albertis.) Length, about 432; wing, 215; tail, 74;
culmen, 41; tarsus, 41.
"'Young.--Feathers of the flanks paler and with the white spots
elongated and lanceolated.' (Schlegel.)" (Salvadori.)
A male from Basilan, December 26, 1906, measures: Length, 444;
wing, 216; tail, 67; exposed culmen, 45; tarsus, 45; middle toe with
claw, 71.
Of the earlier collectors Platen was the only one to secure this tree
duck in the Philippines; more recently it has been taken in Basilan
but it appears to be a rare species.
Genus ANAS Linnæus, 1758.
Bill of moderate length, the sides nearly parallel; wings long and
pointed; a wide band of metallic color across the secondaries forming
the speculum; tail pointed but not of great length.