MUSK, OR MUSCOVY DUCK, 403 



position of tlie light, the brilliant part is golden-green or bluish- 

 green, broadly bordered above with pale rufous, below with white. 

 The black spots of the breast not fully developed externally, but con- 

 spicuous on raising the feathers. Lateral tail coverts buff, the under 

 ones deep black with broad whitish-buff edgings and tips. The 

 central upper tail coverts dark grey, tinged with buff, the lateral 

 ones glossy green, internally edged with pale buff. The white cres- 

 centic shoulder band, scarcely indicated by some lighter barred feath- 

 ers. Lenofth 15 inches. 



Subgenus. — ^Gymnathus. 



With the cheeks bare of feathers, and covered by a papillose cu- 

 ticle which extends behind the eyes, and enlarges in the male into 

 a caruncle at the base of the bill. The upper mandible terminates 

 in a sharp curved nail.' The legs very short and stout; the nails of 

 the toes are large, and that of the inner one hooked. 



This ver}^ singular Duck is an inhabitant of the warm and tropi- 

 cal parts of America, from whence it seldom migrates to any consid- 

 erable distance. In its domestic condition, with which we are fa- 

 miliar, it has a slow, waddling, and heavy gait; yet in the wild 

 state it is said to perch on trees or stumps on the borders of rivers 

 and swamps. They nest also in trees, from whence, when hatched, 

 the female conveys her young in the bill to the water. In the mild 

 regions of their nativity they hatch two or three times in the year, 

 and are extremely prolific, laying from 12 to 18 eggs. They moult 

 in September, and so completely as to be entirely denuded of feath- 

 ers, and unable to fly. Their voice is little more than a mere hiss. 



MUSK OR MUSCOVY DUCK. 



(Anas moschata, Willughby, p. 294. Linn. Syst. i. p. 199. sp. 16. 

 Lath. Ind. sp. 37. Id. Synops. iii. p. 476. sp. 31. SLOANE,Hist. 

 Jamaica, p. 324. No. 8. Le Canard Mtisqui, Buff. PI. Enlum. 

 989. Anas sijlxestris magnitudine anseris, Marc grave. Hist. Nat. 

 Brazil, p. 213. Jpeca-guacu, Piso, Hist. Nat. Canard Sauvage du 

 Bresil, Salerne, p. 438. Anas sylvestris Brasiliensis, Ray, p. 

 149. No. 3.) 



