14 Manual of the Game Birds of India. 



by considerations of structure, habits, and 

 plumage. 



The Water Fowl do not vary in form 

 to such an extent as the Gallinaceous 

 Birds, and it is consequently much more 

 difficult in the case of the former to 

 discover characters by which they may 

 be grouped together or separated from 

 each other. The primary character of 

 importance among the Water Fowl is un- 

 doubtedly the pattern of colour presented 

 by the primaries. 



All adult Swans have the primaries 

 pure white. I am aware that the 

 South American Coscoroba Candida^ is 

 by many authors looked upon as a 

 Swan, and that it has the primaries 

 white tipped with black ; but I believe 

 that this bird is not a Swan, but a 

 Goose. The neck is very short, the 

 cheeks are feathered, and it bears little 

 resemblance to a Swan in form or external 

 structure. 



The True Geese have a pattern of 

 the primaries all their own. The outer 

 primaries are grey tipped with blackish ; 

 the inner are uniformly black or blackish* 



All the resident Ducks, and those 

 Ducks the migrations of which are very 

 limited or partial, have the primaries 



