CAIRINA. 97 
Order ANSERES*. 
This Order, which includes the Swans, Geese, and Ducks, is such a natural one 
that very few remarks are necessary to emphasize its characters. All its members 
have a desmognathous palate, the maxillo-palatines completely coalescing along the 
middle line. There are also other osteological features of the skull which separate 
the Anseres from the Steganopodes and Herodiones, but the external characters of the 
Ducks and their allies are sufficiently well known to render a more exact description 
unnecessary in the present work. 
Count Salvadori, who has monographed the Anseres in the twenty-seventh volume 
of the ‘Catalogue of Birds,’ recognizes but one family, Anatide, with no less than 
eleven subfamilies, six of which are represented in Central America. 
Fam. ANATID. 
In the preceding paragraph we have mentioned the chief feature which characterizes 
this family. 
The habits of the ordinary species of Ducks are so very similar that we have contented 
ourselves with a few remarks on the life-histories of the Anatide, chiefly derived from 
the ‘ Water-Birds of North America’ of Messrs. Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway. 
N.B.—Chauna derbyana, a South-American species, has been erroneously recorded 
from Belize by Sclater and Salvin (Ibis, 1860, p. 402). 
Subfam, PLECTROPTERIN A. 
This subfamily takes its name from the principal genus Plectropterus of Africa, 
which contains the Spur-winged Geese peculiar to that continent. According to 
Count Salvadori, the Plectropterine may be distinguished by the hind toe being rather 
long and not lobed, the feet palmated; the tail-feathers also rather long, broad, and 
rounded at the tip; and the upper plumage for the most part glossy. Three genera 
only are represented in the Neotropical Region, of which two occur within our limits. 
CAIRINA. 
Cairina, Fleming, Phil. Zool. ii. p. 260 (1822) ; Salvad. Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxvii. p. 51 (1895). 
The well-known Muscovy Duck is the single representative of the genus Cairina. 
It is easily distinguished by the bare lores and the caruncles on the forehead and at 
* T have to acknowledge the assistance of Mr. Ogilvie-Grant in the preparation of the MSS. of this portion 
of the ‘ Biologia.’—F, D. G. 
