CURVE-BILLED DUCK. 93 



themselves. The Chinese then provide them with 

 an old stepmother, who leads them where they are 

 to find provender, being first put on board a sam- 

 pane, or boat, which is destined for their habitation, 

 and from which the whole flock, often, it is said, to 

 the amount of three or four hundred, go out to feed, 

 and return at command. This method is used nine 

 months out of the twelve, for in the colder months 

 it does not succeed, and is so far from a noveJty, that 

 it may be every where seen ; but more especially 

 about the time of cutting the rice, and gleaning the 

 crops, when the masters of the duck-sampanes row 

 up and down the river, according to the opportunity 

 of procuring food, which is found in plenty at the 

 ebb tide, on the rice plantations, as they are over- 

 flowed at high water. 



CURVE-BILLED DUCK. 



(Anas curvirostra.) 



AN-, atra, redrlcibus intermediis maris recurvatis, gula macula 



ovali alba, rostro incuroo. 

 Dusky Duck with the intermediate tail-feathers of the male 



recurved, the throat with a white oval spot, the beak bent 



down. 

 Anas curvirostra. Gmel. Syst. Nat. 1. 537. Lath. Ind. Qrn. 



2. 852. 

 Curve-billed Duck. Lath. Gen. Syn. 6. 496. 



APPARENTLY distinct from the Wild Duck, than 

 which it is rather larger : its beak is similar, but bent 



