CAIEINA. 197 



Order ANSERES*. 



This Order, which includes the Swans, Geese, and Ducks, is such a natural one 

 that very few remarks are necessary to emphasize its characters. All its members 

 have a desmognathous palate, the maxillo-palatines completely coalescing along the 

 middle line. There are also other osteological features of the skull which separate 

 the Anseres from the Steganopodes and Herodiones, but the external characters of the 

 Ducks and their allies are sufficiently well known to render a more exact description 

 unnecessary in the present work. 



Count Salvadori, who has monographed the Anseres in the twenty-seventh volume 

 of the ' Catalogue of Birds,' recognizes but one family, Anatidse, with no less than 

 eleven subfamilies, six of which are represented in Central America. 



Fam. ANATID-SJ. 



In the preceding paragraph we have mentioned the chief feature which characterizes 

 this family. 



The habits of the ordinary species of Ducks are so very similar that we have contented 

 ourselves with a few remarks on the life-histories of the Anatidse, chiefly derived from 

 the ' Water-Birds of North America ' of Messrs. Baird, Brewer, and Kidgway. 



N.B. — Chauna derhyana, a South-American species, has been erroneously recorded 

 froni Belize by Sclater and Salvin (Ibis, 1860, p. 402). 



Subfam. PLECTROPTEBIN^. 



This subfamily takes its name from the principal genus Plectropterus of Africa, 

 which contains the Spur-winged Geese peculiar to that continent. According to 

 Count Salvadori, the Plectropterinse may be distinguished by the hind toe being rather 

 long and not lobed, the feet palmated ; the tail-feathers also rather long, broad, and 

 rounded at the tip ; and the upper plumage for the most part glossy. Three genera 

 only are represented in the Neotropical Region, of which two occur within our limits. 



CAIEINA. 



Cairina, Fleming, Phil. Zool. ii. p. 260 (1822) ; Salvad. Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxvii. p. 51 (1895). 



The well-known Muscovy Duck is the single representative of the geaus Cairina. 



It is easily distinguished by the bare lores and the caruncles on the forehead and at 



* I have to acknowledge the assistance of Mr. Ogilvie-Grant in the preparation of the MSS. of this portion 

 of the ' Biologia.'— P. D. G. 



