192 BIRDS OF BRITISH criAXA. 



followinoj note: — "In this rec^ion these birds are Tree-ducks 

 only in name, as later in the year hundreds of eggs will he 

 found scattered over the savanna, and sooner or later the flocks 

 will dissolve into pairs, each to nest on some low hunnnocdc in the 

 marsh. These ducks never settle on the open water of the river 

 on account of the many dangers swimming heneath. They sleep 

 and feed and nest among the thick growth of reeds and grass 

 of the savanna itself." 



Genus ALOPOCHEN Stejn. 



Alopoclrrn Stejnei^or, Stand. Xat. Hist. iv. Birds, p. 141, fig. GG, 1885. 

 Type A. ce(j\jptiacus (Linn.). 



This genus is characterized by having the distal portion of 

 the tarsi in front transversely scutellnted and the absence o£ 

 prominent lamellre on the edges of the bill. It has the rudiment 

 of a blunt spur on the shoulder j)oint of each wing. 



120. Alopochen jubata. 



Spix's Goose. 



Alopoclien juhaia (Spix), Av. Bras. ii. p. 84, pi. cviil., 1825 ("ad ripam 



fl. Solimoens in insula Prava das On^as ") ; Brabourne & Chubb, 



B. S. Amer. i. p. 55, no. 510, 1912. 

 Chenalopex jnhatus C&h. in Schomb. Reis. Guian. iii. p. 762, 1848; 



BroAvn, Canoe and Camp Life, p. 265, 187G (Takutu River) ; 



Salviu, Il)is, 1886, p. 172; Salvad. Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxvii. 



p. 169, 1895. 



" Orinoco Goose " {Brown'). 



Adult. Manlle and short scapulars chestnut, becoming buffy- 

 white on the long scapulars, and dark brown on the inner webs 

 of the latter ; upper back dark brown with paler edges to the 

 feathers; lesser and median wing-coverts dark bottle-green; greater 

 series metallic green on the outer webs ; bastard-wing and 

 primary-coverts blackish with a greenish tinge and brown on the 

 inner webs ; second, third, and fourth primaries slightly incised 

 on the outer web, and the first and second on the inner web; 

 four of the inner secondaries have a large patch of white on the 

 outer webs which forms a wing speculum ; lower back, rump, 

 upper tail-coverts, and tail dark bottle-green ; head, throat, neck 



