248 THE BIRDS OF RIVER AND VLEI 



which is white ; nape and neck greyish fawn, with a narrow 

 pale chestnut collar; the wings are ashy brown ; below greyish- 

 white and pale chestnut, the sides of the body and lower 

 neck being grey mottled with fine bands of black. The 

 ring round the eye and round patch on the breast — both 

 bright chestnut — will serve to easily distinguish this bird 

 from any of its kind. Length, 28 inches. 



It ranges through the whole of South Africa, being common 

 on the vleis of the Orange Free State at certain seasons, 

 where it breeds amongst the rushes, laying pure white eggs, 

 five to eight in a clutch. This bird has been recorded as 

 breeding on a cliff, and even amongst the grass and rocks 

 of a kopje on the veld. In the photograph (Fig. 137) the 

 geese have commandeered the disused nest of a Hammer- 

 head ; the nest can be seen on a ledge of the cliff near the 

 top of the picture (left centre), the entrance-hole projecting 

 downwards. The bird in the foreground has the wing 

 outspread, showing the conspicuous white patch. 



We have kept this goose repeatedly in captivity, but 

 it is pugnacious in the poultry yard, pursuing and per- 

 secuting ducks and fowls alike. Its harsh barking quack 

 (so aptly described by Andersson) is irritating in the 

 extreme, except when heard in the wilds. 



The Yellow-billed Duck (Anas undnlata), known to the 

 Boer farmers as the " geelbek," is perhaps the commonest 

 and most widely spread of the South African Ducks. ( ieneral 

 colour ashy- brown, mottled withwhite; a speculum of metallic 

 blue or green on the wing margined by Mack. Bill yellow with 

 a black central streak on the culmen. Length, nearly 2 feet. 



This bird was fairly plentiful on the Modderfontein dams 

 during August, 1907. It is perhaps the commonest duck in 

 most parts of South Africa. 



The Black Duck (Anas sparsa) is almost black in colour, 



