138 ANSEKES NETTION 



five or six eggs, and that the young remain with the parents for 

 some time after they are hatched. Colonel Bowker sent eggs to 

 Mr. Layard taken near Maseru in Basutoland in November. These 

 were laid in a nest made in a hollow of rotten wood forming a 

 mass of drift under a willow tree overhanging the banks of the 

 Caledon Eiver; the nest was lined with down from the bird's 

 own breast and contained five eggs ready to hatch ; they resembled 

 those of A. undulata and measured 2'5 x 1'75. Mr. Pym found 

 a nest containing six eggs in a similar position in a mass of drift 

 under a willow tree on the banks of the Buffalo Eiver near King 

 Williams Town in February. 



Genus VIII. NETTION. 



Type. 



Nettion, Kaup, Natilrl. Syst. p. 95 (1829) N. crecca. 



This genus, containing the Common Teal and some other allied 

 species, hardly differs from Anas. The bill is narrower and shorter, 

 the size is smaller, and the number of tail-feathers is less 14 to 16 

 as a rule. 



Salvador! places fifteen species in this genus of cosmopolitan 

 distribution. Two of these are residents in South Africa, a third is 

 confined to Madagascar, while the Common Teal of Europe 

 (N. crecca) 'reaches as far south as Abyssinia during the northern 

 winter. The key of the South African species is given under the 

 head of the previous genus, p. 133. 



La* 



621. Nettion capense. Cape Widgeon. 



Anas capensis, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i, p. 527 (1788) ; Pelz. Novara Reise, 



Vogel, p. 138 (1865) ; Salvadori, P. Z. S. 1884, p. 172, pi. 13 ; 



Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 120 (1900). 

 Querquedula capensis, Smith, Cat. S. A. Mus. p. 37 (1837) ; Sharpe, ed. 



Layard' s B. S. Afr. p. 758 (1884) ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p 172 (1896) ; 



Whitehead, Ibis, 1903, p. 238. 

 Mareca capensis, Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 351 (1867) ; id. Ibis, 1869, p. 



76 ; Ayres, Ibis, 1869, p. 302 ; Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaral. 



p. 339 (1872) ; Bryden, Gun and Camera, pp. 349, 405 (1893). 

 Nettion capense, Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxvii. p. 259 (1895). 

 " Teal-eendje" of the Dutch. 



Desertion. Adult. Head, neck and cheeks whitish, with dark 

 ashy centres to the feathers on the back and sides, nearly pure 

 white on the chin ; mantle, back, upper tail-coverts and scapulars 



