172 ANATID^E. 



M. Vieillot as having been killed near Strasbourg ; and one 

 in Germany, included in the Histories of the Birds of that 

 country by Wolfe and Meyer, and by Mr Brehm. 



M. Menetries, in his Catalogue Raisonne of objects in 

 Zoology observed by the naturalists attached to the Rus- 

 sian expedition to the vicinity of the Caucasus and the 

 frontiers of Persia, says, that in 1 828 a considerable flock of 

 this species appeared at Leukoran, probably driven there by 

 strong winds ; they were so exhausted by fatigue that they 

 were caught by hand, and many were preserved in capti- 

 vity, to which they were easily reconciled. They always 

 kept together, and uttered a gentle call-note when any 

 one of their party separated from the others, or when a 

 bird of prey hovered over them : this was the only sound 

 that was heard. Of the food placed before them they 

 preferred green vegetables to grain, and drank often. 



In the adult bird the beak and the nail are almost 

 black : the irides hazel ; between the beak and the eye a 

 white patch ; round the eye, the top of the head, and 

 down the back of the neck, dark brownish-black ; on the 

 ear-coverts an angular patch of chestnut surrounded with 

 white, ending in a white streak passing downwards ; upper 

 surface of the body and wings very dark brown, almost 

 black ; wing-coverts edged with greyish- white ; upper 

 tail- co verts white ; primaries and tail-feathers black ; 

 throat dark brown ; neck and upper part of the breast 

 rich chestnut red, ending with a collar of white : lower 

 part of the breast black ; belly, vent, and under tail- 

 coverts white ; the flanks barred with dark brown ; legs, 

 toes, and their membranes, dark-brown, almost black. 



The whole length twenty-one or twenty-two inches. 

 From the carpal joint to the end of the wing fourteen 

 inches. 



