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The Ecology of the Black-Bellied Tree Duck in Southern Texas

The black-bellied tree duck (Dendracygna autumnal is) 1 is one of eight tree ducks (whistling ducks) in the genus Dendracygna . This group shares enough characteris tics--reticulated tarsus and symmetrical syrinx structure, among others--with the swans and geese Ia warrant a cam man subfamily, Anserinae of the waterfowl family Anatidae. De Iacour and Mayr ( 1945) make a tribal distinction, however, between the tree ducks (Dendracygnini) and the swans and geese (Anserini) based, in part, an differences in size, vertebrae number, and downy plumage . These same authors remark that the tree ducks are the leas t known of the waterfowl largely because there are no life history studies for any of the species. Of the two species found in the continental United States, the fulvous (_Q . bicolor) and black-bellied tree ducks , the ecology of the last named seemed singularly unknown.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:UTAHS/oai:digitalcommons.usu.edu:etd-5538
Date01 May 1967
CreatorsBolen, Eric George
PublisherDigitalCommons@USU
Source SetsUtah State University
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
SourceAll Graduate Theses and Dissertations
RightsCopyright for this work is held by the author. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user. For more information contact Andrew Wesolek (andrew.wesolek@usu.edu).

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