286 BRITISH BIRDS. 



which they can erect at pleasure. The legs are 

 short and thick, and, as well as the toes, vary in 

 different birds from red to yellow. 



Ornithologists are in doubt as to the country 

 to which these birds originally belonged ; it is, 

 however, agreed, that they are natives of the warm 

 climates. Pennant says they are met with, wild, 

 about the Lake Baikal, in Asia ; Ray, that they 

 are natives of Louisiana ; Marcgrave, that they 

 are met with in Brazil; and Buffon, that they are 

 found in the overflowed savannas of Guiana, where 

 they feed in the day-time upon the wild rice, and 

 return in the evening to the sea ; he adds, " they 

 nestle on the trunks of rotten trees ; and after 

 the young are hatched, the mother takes them 

 one after another by the bill and throws them 

 into the water." It is said that great numbers 

 of the young brood are destroyed by the alliga- 

 tors, which are common in those parts. 



These birds have obtained the name of Musk 

 Duck, from their musky smell, which arises from 

 the liquor secreted in the glands on the rump. 

 They breed readily with the Common Duck, form- 

 ing an intermediate kind, better suited to the 

 table than either of the parents. The Hybrids do 

 not appear to be productive. 



In former editions of this work, the description 

 of the plumage of these birds was taken from 

 other ornithologists, whose accuracy cannot be 

 doubted. The bill red, except about the nostrils 

 and tip, where it is brown ; the cheeks, throat, 

 and fore part of the neck, white, irregularly 

 marked with black : the belly, from the breast 

 to the thighs, white. The general colour of the 



