This handsome duck belongs to a group known as the "sawbills". Its bill is especially adapted for catching and holding fish, having a row of tiny teeth along the edges of both upper and lower mandibles. Naturally it is an expert diver. It is a sea-duck but will sometimes come to the rivers to nest. The nest is made in thick cover, often under bushes or in long herbage.
The drake is depicted. The female is a bird of sober brown, grey and black. She, too, has a crest. |