ANSEBES NETTOPUS 121 



common ; elsewhere it occurs only as a straggler, wbile it has only: 

 been met with once south of the Orange Eiver. 



The following are recorded localities : Cape Colony Kleinmont 

 Eiver in Bathurst division (Layard), Molopo Eiver near Maf eking, 

 January (Ayres) ; Transvaal Potchefstroom (Barratt & Ayres), 

 Eustenburg (Ayres) ; Bechuanaland Lake Ngami, throughout the 

 year (Andersson), Botletli Eiver (Bryden), Kanye (Nicolls & Egling- 

 ton), Tati Eiver (S. A. Mus.) ; Ehodesia Eamaquaban Eiver, 

 March (Gates), Upper Zambesi (Bradshaw), Upper Mazoe, rare 

 (Marshall), Kafue Eiver (Alexander) ; German South-west Africa 

 Great Namaqualand and Damaraland in rainy season, Okavango 

 Eiver throughout the year (Andersson), Eeheboth, in rains (Fleck). 



Habits. Little of special interest has been recorded about this 

 curious looking Duck in South Africa; it is usually met with in flocks 

 where plentiful, flying in the V shaped formation, and it not infre- 

 quently perches on dry, dead trees, at which times it is not very 

 difficult to approach ; it is said by most sportmen to be exceedingly 

 good eating, surpassing both the Spur-wing and the Egyptian Goose 

 in this respect. It apparently breeds in Bechuanaland, though no 

 one has hitherto given any account of the matter ; eggs laid in 

 captivity in Holland, in Mr. Blaauw's garden, were yellowish-white 

 and rather more pointed at one end than the other ; they were not 

 hatched, however, and proved to have been unfertilized. 



There are six eggs of this species in the British Museum, obtained 

 by Mr. Andersson at Ondonga, in Ovampoland, in February ; they 

 are described as being smooth, rather glossy and pale yellowish- 

 white, and measure from 2-58 to 2-22 x 1-78 to 1-65. 



Genus III. NETTOPUS. 



Type. 

 Nettapus, Brandt, Descr. Icon. Anim. Boss. Nov., Aves, 



fasc. i, p. 5 (1836)... N. auritus. 



Bill very short and deep, depth at the base about equal to 

 the culmen without the nail ; nostrils oval, near the base of the bill ; 

 wings moderate and pointed, the first three primaries subequal ; tail 

 very short and pointed, of twelve feathers ; legs placed very far back, 

 tarsus with a row of transverse scutes in front, a good deal shorter 

 than the anterior toes ; hind toe slender, with a narrow but distinct 

 lobe ; size very small, plumage glossy, sexes distinct. 



