228 ANIMALS IN MENAGERIES. 



Asia/' we are led to distrust, and justly, all the other 

 localities that are mentioned by the writer. 



Little or nothing worth repeating was known of the 

 habits of the musk duck, until the appearance of the ad- 

 mirable work byAzara, on the animals of Paraguay. 

 We are there informed, that it generally is found soli- 

 tary, or in pairs, but sometimes in flocks of from twenty 

 to thirty, although it never migrates. It feeds not 

 only on what it finds (des productions) in the rivers 

 and stagnant waters, but, according to the general 

 opinion, on the roots of the manioc *, on maize, and 

 other vegetables, which it searches for during moonlight 

 nights. Although generally on the ground during the 

 day^ it always roosts upon trees. It is very shy, ex- 

 cept at such times — generally at the break of day — as it 

 feeds, when it may be approached more readily. It be- 

 gins to lay in the beginning of September ; and generally 

 deposits ten or more eggs in the hollow of a tree, some- 

 w^hat elevated from the ground, or sometimes in a fork 

 of its branches ; the nest, in this latter case, being lined 

 with the bird's own feathers. When hatched, the mo- 

 ther conveys the young to the nearest water, by carry- 

 ing them, one by one, in her bill. Its note is low and 

 guttural, not unlike the syllable ha. It is the largest 

 species found in Paraguay, and is called Ypeguaza by 

 the Indians, and Pato 7'eale o grande (Grand or Royal 

 Duck) by the Spaniards. 



The musk duck, in its naturally wild state, according 

 to Azara, has the whole of the plumage entirely black, 

 varied with green and violet reflections : some indivi- 

 duals, however, have a few white dots on the hinder 

 part of the head, and on all the wing covers : the feet 

 are black ; the irides yellow : the bill is black, with a 

 transverse band of cterulean blue close to the nostrils, 

 and a spot of the same at its tip ; between these is another 



* I am inclined to doubt this fact very strongly : the root of this plant, 

 before the juices are artificially expressed, is a deadly poison, both to man 

 and beast. It is even a well-known fact, in Brazil, that if fowls or poultry 

 sip up the juice that runs from the pressing mill, they are sure to die. This, 

 indeed, 1 have witnessed. 



