ANATIDAE 1 33 



winter ; the note, often syllabled " honk-honk," is at times almost 

 a cackle, whence the Hocks or " skeins " are called " ^ao-crles " 

 The nest, placed in herbage or heather, is of grass, moss, twigs, or 

 aquatic plants, and contains live or more whitish eggs. 



Chen hi/pcrhorevs, the " AVavy," or Snow Goose, of North-East 

 Asia and Xorth-West America, with its larger Eastern American 

 race, 0. nivalis, and C. rossi of Arctic America — which wander 

 south in winter, while the first has occurred in Britain and North 

 Europe — are white, with black primaries, purplish-red bills and 

 feet ; C. rossi ha^ing a warty base to the maxilla. 0. caemlescens, 

 of eastern North America, is grey-brown, with white head, bluish 

 rump and wing-coverts. The food is of rushes, insects, and l)erries. 



Sub-fam. 8. CereviisiiKie. — Cereopsis nor((r lioJhindiac, the 

 Cape Barren Goose of South-East Australia and Tasmania, is grey- 

 brown, with large yellow cere, chietiy reddish -orange feet, black 

 toes and beak. More terrestrial than its nearest kin, it lays similar 

 eggs. The very large extinct Cnciu iornis, of the superficial deposits 

 of New Zealand, was a close ally, with aborted keel to the sternum 

 and short wings useless for Hight. 



Sub-fam. 9. I'lectropteTiuae. — Aex sponsa} the Svimmer Duck 

 of North America and Cuba, accidental in Jamaica and the 

 Bermudas, has the upper parts maiidy glossy green, with purple 

 cheeks, black neck-patches, and white stripes on the face and 

 neck ; the breast is chestnut with white spots, the throat and ])elly 

 are white, the wing-coverts partly blue, the flanks brown, black, 

 and white : the bill is black, white, yellow, purplish, and scarlet ; 

 the feet are yellow. It has a long occipital crest. The female is 

 grey -brown with metallic gloss, a white throat and eye -space, 

 plumbeous and black bill, and brownish feet. This inland species 

 feeds on insects, seeds, leaves, and acorns, and lays buff eggs in 

 holes in trees. Acx (/alericulata, the Mandarin Duck of East 

 Asia, is somewhat similar, l)ut has a neck-ruff of narrow chestnut 

 feathers streaked with wliitish, a chestnut and black " fan " formed 

 by the decurved innermost secondary, a copper, purple, and green 

 crest, and a red-brown bill. "^I'he female is brown, grey, and white. 



Nettopus pidrliell us, of Australia, New Guinea, and the 



Moluccas, has the upjter parts and neck-collar dark green, the 



head browner, the remiges and rectrices black with a white 



wing- bar, the cheeks anil lower parts white, the sides marked with 



^ 1 can hardly agree witli Count Salvador! in placing Aex here. 



