326 FLAMINGOES, DUCKS, AND SCREAMERS. 



banks of rivers, although during the moulting- time, when unable to fly, they seek 

 the retirement and shelter of reedy marshes and swamps ; and in the breeding- 

 season the flocks divide up into pairs. Farther south, according to Messra. Nicolls 

 and Eglinton, they frequent the reedy margins of Lake Ngami and the Chobi and 

 Zambesi Rivers, where they breed in immense numbers. When, however, the smaller 

 water-courses and pools are filled with water, these birds desert the impenetrable 

 swamps, to wander in pairs over the country. " The broods usually number from 

 eight to twelve, the old birds remaining with their progeny for the remainder of 

 the season following the nesting. They do not feed in the day, but may be then 

 observed in the open water, or standing motionless on some dry bank, rocky 

 prominence, or island. When on the wing, they continuously utter a low, hissing 

 noise, and shortly after sundown, just before darkness sets in, leave their day- 

 resorts and fly to the feeding-ground, which is generally some very shallow pass 

 or swamp overgrown with grass, and here they spend the night in search of leeches 

 and water animalculae." The nest is a huge structure of reeds and flags, generally 

 built among the reeds, but occasionally in a low bush ; and to the northward the 

 number of eggs is said to be much less than that above mentioned. During the 

 night they generally fly low ; and, in accordance with the length of their legs, they 

 walk less awkwardly than the true geese. Shy and wary, as well as endowed with 

 great vitality, these birds are difficult to kill, and the flesh of the old ones is rank 

 and tough. They are easily tamed, and thrive in confinement, although their 

 disposition is pugnacious. 

 Half-Webbed A still more peculiar form than the last is the half-webbed or 



Ctoose. pig(| goose {Ansetanas melanoleucas) of Australia, in which the front 

 toes are only webbed at the base, and the hind one is very long and not raised 

 above their level, and furnished with a large claw. The lores are naked, and the 

 metatarsus is reticulate and longer than the third toe. This remarkable bird, 

 which is about the size of the brent goose, constitutes a distinct subfamily by 

 itself, and has a dull black and white plumage, and a hooked beak, with a large, 

 warty, comb-like prominence on the front of the head. The claws are long and 

 sharp, and the whole foot is adapted for perching. In accordance with this structure, 

 these birds sit for hours on the branches of the Australian tea-trees, and but seldom 

 enter the water. Their cry is loud and hoarse, but quite unlike that of the common 

 goose ; and the windpipe is folded on itself, although on the side of, instead of 

 within, the breast-bone, as in the swans. 



The large cereopsis jjoose (Cereopsis novoB-hollandice) of New 

 Cereopsis Goose. „ , , , _, .... . . • ^ 



Zealand and Tasmania is the sole existing representative of another 



subfamily characterised by the extreme shortness of the beak, which is covered at 



the base with a waxy skin, and has its extremity bent down and truncated so as 



to approximate in appearance to that of a fowl. The body is very stoutly built 



and massive, the neck short and thick, the head small, the leg long, and the foot 



with short toes, powerful nails, and deeply incised webs. The wings are broad, 



with strong quills ; the tail is rounded, and the body-plumage soft. The colour of 



the plumage is a clear ashy grey, with brown reflections, passing into lighter grey 



on the crown of the head, and marked on the back with blackish brown spots near 



the tips of the feathers ; the under tail-coverts and the tips of some of the wing- 



