IV ANATIDAE I 29 



holes in trees, on which it is quite at ease. Casarca rutila, the 

 Buddy Sheld-Drake or Brahminy Duck of South Europe, North 

 Africa, and temper ate Asia, which has strayed to Britain and winters 

 in India, Burma, and Formosa, has a buff head, separated from the 

 orange-brown body by a black collar in summer, white wing-coverts, 

 black wing- and tail-quills, purple and green speculum, and black 

 bill and feet. The female is lighter, with no collar. It frequents 

 fresh water, grazes. on corn and grass like a goose, and breeds in 

 holes of any sort. C. cana, of South Africa differs in its grey head, 

 rufous collar, and black vermiculations above, the female having 

 the front of the head white. C. variegata of New Zealand is black 

 relieved by grey, the neck being brown, the anal region and inner 

 secondaries chestnut, the wing-coverts white, the speculum green. 

 The hen-bird has the head white, the lower neck, back, and under 

 parts chestnut, varied with black and white. C. tadorno'ides, of 

 South and West Australia and Tasmania, has a glossy green head, 

 white collar, rufous lower neck and chest, black body with fulvous 

 mottlings, white wing -coverts, chestnut inner secondaries, and 

 green speculum, the head of the female being brown. 



Chenalopex aegyptiaca, the " Egyptian Goose," found in Pales- 

 tine and Africa, is rusty or buffish-grey, marked above with black, 

 and with red, white, green, and black on the wing. The nape and 

 collar are rufous ; the breast shews a maroon patch, the bill is pink 

 and black, the feet are pink. It has a loud, harsh cry, feeds on land, 

 and lays rather small creamy eggs in cavities of rocks, on trees, or 

 even among rushes. C. jubata, of Amazonia and Guiana, is grey, 

 with greenish-black back, wings, and tail, ruddy mantle and belly, 

 purplish-green wing-coverts, and white speculum. The sexes are 

 alike in this genus and the next. 



In Dendrocycna, containing the Tree-Ducks, which occur mostly 

 in the tropics, the main colour is chestnut or dusky-brown, with 

 dark nape and black rump or belly ; but the head may be lighter, 

 the throat or wing-coverts varied with white, or the flanks barred 

 with black and white. D. viduata, of the Ethiopian and Neo- 

 tropical Eegions, has the front of the head white ; D. autumnalis r 

 of Central America, and D. discolor, its greyer representative in 

 northern South America, have red bills and whitish feet ; D. 

 arborea, of the Bahamas and Antilles, has strongly spotted lower 

 parts, as has the larger D. guttata, of Mindanao, Celebes, New 

 Guinea, and the Moluccas ; D.fulva, of the Ethiopian, Neotropical,. 



VOL. IX K 



