Hook Bill

Last updated

Hook Bill
PEO054 1,0 Krummschnabelenten.jpg
Drake
Conservation status
Other names
  • Kromsnaveleend [4]
  • Krombekeend [5]
  • Noord Hollandse Krombekeend [3]
  • Dutch Hookbill [4]
  • Hook-billed Duck
Country of originNetherlands
Traits
Weight
  • Male:
    2.0–2.25 kg [6] : 417 
  • Female:
    1.6–2.0 kg [6] : 417 
Classification
APA no [7]
EE yes [8]
PCGB light [9]
Notes
may be crested [8]
  • Duck
  • Anas platyrhynchos

The Hook Bill or Dutch Hookbill, Dutch : Kromsnaveleend or Krombekeend, [10] is a Dutch breed of domestic duck, named for its unusual down-curved beak. [11] [12] It is documented in both text and images from the late seventeenth century onwards. It originated in the province of North Holland, and so may also be known as the Noord Hollandse Krombekeend. [3] Speculation that it originated in Asia, [13] or is related to the Indian Runner, is apparently unsubstantiated. [14]

Contents

History

"The Hook-bill'd Duck", copper engraving by Lady Emma Willughby, from Ornithologiae Libri Tres by Francis Willughby, 1676 Anas rostro adunco, The Hook-bill'd Duck, from plate LXXV of Francis Willughby 1676, Ornithologiae libri tres.jpg
"The Hook-bill'd Duck", copper engraving by Lady Emma Willughby, from Ornithologiæ Libri Tres by Francis Willughby, 1676

The Hook Bill is associated with the province of North Holland in the north-west of the Netherlands, but its origins are unknown. Speculation that it originated in Asia, [13] or is related to the Indian Runner, is apparently unsubstantiated. [14]

Hook-billed ducks appear in paintings by Melchior Hondecoeter and Nicolas Robert from the latter half of the seventeenth century. [14] The earliest published illustration and description appear to be those in the Ornithologiæ Libri Tres of Francis Willughby, published in 1676. [14] [15] : 294  Willughby's book is in Latin; when it was re-published by John Ray in English in 1678, the description of the Hook-billed Duck was: [14] [16] : 381 

In shape of body and outward lineaments it is very like the common tame Duck; differs chiefly in the Bill, which is broad, something longer than the common Ducks, and bending moderately downward. The Head also is lesser and slenderer than the common Ducks. It is said to be a better layer.

Line drawing by Harrison Weir from Beeton's Book of Household Management, 1861 Bow-bill ducks, Beeton 1861, page 453.jpg
Line drawing by Harrison Weir from Beeton's Book of Household Management , 1861

In the nineteenth century the Hook Bill was present in large numbers in much of Europe. [17] : 444  Johann Matthäus Bechstein, in the second volume of his Gemeinnützige Naturgeschichte Deutschlands nach allen drey Reichen, describes it as common throughout the continent, and particularly so in Thuringia, where large flocks were kept for their eggs and meat. [18] : 720  [14] It was present in England no later than about 1840, when Harrison Weir reported seeing the birds on the lake of the Surrey Zoological Gardens in Newington, at that time in Surrey. [19] : 698  [14]

Numbers declined during the twentieth century – for reasons including water pollution and falling demand for duck eggs – and by 1980 the breed was close to extinction. A recovery initiative was launched with about fifteen of the remaining birds. [5] A census in 2010 found a population of about 120; [10] in 2023 the total number was estimated at 80–120, with 60 breeding ducks and 20 drakes. [2]

In 2007 the conservation status of the Hook Bill was listed by the FAO as "endangered" at European level. [1] : 141  In 2024 its status in Holland was listed in DAD-IS as "critical-maintained", [2] while the Dutch Stichting Zeldzame Huisdierrassen  [ nl ] classified it as "critical", [3] as did the Livestock Conservancy in the United States. [5] It was not on the rare breed watchlist of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust in the United Kingdom. [20]

Some were taken to Germany in the 1980s. [21] It was introduced to the United States in 2000; it is not listed in the Standard of Perfection of the American Poultry Association. [5]

Characteristics

The Hook Bill is a light duck, with an average weight of approximately 2 kg. [6] : 417  Three colour variants are recognised in France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom: [8] the dusky mallard has a black head and rump with green lustre, the body in shades of grey with no white neck-ring, and a slate-grey beak; the white-bibbed dusky mallard is similarly coloured, but with a distinct white chest-bib and white-tipped wing primaries; the white has pure white plumage, blue eyes, bright orange legs and a flesh-pink bill. [6] : 417  A further seventeen colours are listed for Germany by the Entente Européenne, but are not accepted in the European standard. [8]

Use

The Hook Bill was traditionally widely reared for both eggs and meat; some were also kept for ornament. [10] The birds were managed extensively, foraging freely along canals and waterways. [12] : 69  [10] In the twenty-first century it is bred mainly for exhibition; ducks lay well, and may give between 100 and 225 white or greenish-blue eggs per year. [5]

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References

  1. 1 2 Barbara Rischkowsky, Dafydd Pilling (editors) (2007). List of breeds documented in the Global Databank for Animal Genetic Resources, annex to The State of the World's Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Rome: Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. ISBN   9789251057629. Archived 23 June 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 Breed data sheet: Noord Hollandse krombekeend / Netherlands (Kingdom of the) (Duck (domestic)). Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed December 2024.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Noord Hollandse krombekeend (in Dutch). Wageningen: Stichting Zeldzame Huisdierrassen. Archived 1 February 2020.
  4. 1 2 Carol Ekarius (2007). Storey's Illustrated Guide to Poultry Breeds. North Adams, Massachusetts: Storey Publishing. ISBN   9781580176675.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Dutch Hookbill Duck. The Livestock Conservancy. Archived 5 May 2019.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Victoria Roberts (2008). British poultry standards: complete specifications and judging points of all standardized breeds and varieties of poultry as compiled by the specialist breed clubs and recognised by the Poultry Club of Great Britain. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN   9781405156424.
  7. ↑ APA Recognized Breeds and Varieties: As of January 1, 2012. American Poultry Association. Archived 4 November 2017.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Liste des races et variétés homologuée dans les pays EE (28.04.2013). Entente Européenne d’Aviculture et de Cuniculture. Archived 16 June 2013.
  9. ↑ Breed Classification. Poultry Club of Great Britain. Archived 30 June 2017.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Krombekeend (in Dutch). Stichting Levende Have. Archived 5 October 2016.
  11. ↑ Chris Ashton, Mike Ashton (2001). The Domestic Duck. Ramsbury, Marlborough: The Crowood Press. ISBN   9781847979704.
  12. 1 2 Dave Holderread (2011). Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks, second edition. North Adams, Massachusetts: Storey Publishing. ISBN   9781603427456.
  13. 1 2 Breed Gallery: Ducks. Poultry Club of Great Britain. Archived 9 January 2019.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Jonathan M. Thompson (2018). The Hook-billed Duck: An Anthology. The Livestock Conservancy. Archived 31 January 2020.
  15. ↑ Francis Willughby, John Ray, Emma Willughby (1676). Ornithologiæ Libri Tres. Londini: Impensis Joannis Martyn.
  16. ↑ John Ray (1678). The Ornithology of Francis Willughby of Middleton in the County of Warwick, esq.. [London]: A.C. for John Martin.
  17. ↑ J. Ian H. Allonby, Philippe B. Wilson (editors) (2018). British Poultry Standards: complete specifications and judging points of all standardized breeds and varieties of poultry as compiled by the specialist breed clubs and recognised by the Poultry Club of Great Britain, seventh edition. Chichester; Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley Blackwell. ISBN   9781119509141.
  18. ↑ Johann Matthäus Bechstein (1791). Gemeinnützige Naturgeschichte Deutschlands nach allen drey Reichen (in German). Leipzig: Bey Siegfried Lebrecht Crusius.
  19. ↑ Harrison Weir (1902). Our Poultry and All about Them, volume 2. London: Hutchinson & Company, 1902.
  20. ↑ Ducks watchlist. Rare Breeds Survival Trust. Archived 3 May 2019.
  21. ↑ Rassetafeln: Groß- und Wassergeflügel (in German). Reichenbach, Haselbachtal: Bund Deutscher Rassegeflügelzüchter. Archived 16 July 2021.
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