134 ANSERIFORMES CHAP. 
ereen crescentic bands, and the bill and feet black. VW. coroman- 
delianus, extending from the Indian Region to Celebes, has a 
white neck, a brown band across the breast, and the flanks freckled 
with grey ; V. albipennis, of East Australia, is similar but larger ; 
N. auritus, of West and South Africa with Madagascar, has a sea- 
green patch on each side of the occiput, the lower part of the neck 
and the flanks being rufous. The females are much duller. These 
“ Piomy Geese” frequent small lakes and dive admirably; the 
note is a cackle; the nest, placed in holes in trees or ruins, if not 
among grass, contains from six to twelve white eggs. 
Pteronetta hartlaubi, of West Africa, is chestnut with black 
head and blue wing-coverts in both sexes. Rhodonessa caryo- 
phyllacea, of India and Burma, is rich brown dotted with whitish, 
the head and nape being pink, the speculum salmon-coloured, the 
bill reddish-white, the feet blackish. It lays round white eggs. 
Asarcornis scutulata, ranging from East Bengal to Java, has a 
black and white head, black mantle and under surface, greenish- 
olive upper parts, with black and white on the wings, a blue-grey 
speculum, reddish bill and feet. Sarceidiornis melanonota, of India, 
Ceylon, Burma, and the Ethiopian Region, is black with metallic 
hues above, and white below; the head and neck are black and 
white, the rump is grey, the tail brown, the feet, bill, and its 
basal comb or caruncle black. S. carwnculata, of Brazil, Paraguay, 
and North Argentina, differs in its black rump. The comb is 
largest in the breeding season, and is wanting in females. These 
Wattle-Ducks perch on trees and breed in cavities of the trunks, 
laying a dozen or more white eggs. The note is harsh and the 
fight slow. Cairina moschata, the Muscovy—or more correctly 
Musk—Duck of ornamental waters, extends from Mexico to 
Argentina ; the crested head, neck, and lower parts are brownish- 
black; the upper surface is glossy green, with purple on the back 
and white wing-coverts ; the bill is black and white; the feet are 
black ; and the frontal and orbital caruncles of the male red. It 
inhabits forest-swamps, roosts in trees, eats maize, mandioc roots, 
and herbage, and nests in holes in trees or between forking 
branches. Plectropterus gambensis of Mid-Africa, P. riippelli of 
the North-East, P. niger of the South-East, and P. scioanus of 
Shoa, the four hardly separable Spur-winged Geese, are metallic 
black, with more or less white on the sides of the head, lesser 
wing-coverts, throat, and abdomen; the feet, bill, frontal knob, 
