I lO 



ANSERIFORMES 



CHAP. 



in exceptional cases, floating. This nest is placed in some narrow 

 channel or near the side of a lagoon, and contains from four to 

 six oval buffish-white eggs. The female rises silently when dis- 

 turbed, nor do the parents usually attack an intruder; but wounded 

 birds are dangerous to approach, and make good use of their sharp 

 spurs. The voice of the young is a feeble chirp ; they are often 

 trained, as they grow up, to act as guardians to the poultry of their 

 owners. The flesh is coarse and dark, with a duck-like flavour. 

 Pcdamedea cornuta, the Horned Screamer, found from Guiana, 

 Venezuela, and Amazonia to Ecuador and Eastern Peru, is glossy 



black with an admix- 

 ture of white on the 

 crown, lesser wing- 

 coverts, and carpal 

 edge ; greyish fore- 

 neck, white abdomen, 

 brownish-grey bill, and 

 ashy feet. The lores 

 are feathered, and a 

 long, slender, yellowish- 

 white horn adorns the 

 forehead. The female 

 is said to have buft" 

 on the wing - coverts. 

 Cliauna chavaria (der- 

 biana auctt.) occurs in 

 Venezuela and Colom- 

 bia ; it is glossy slate- 

 black with greyer head 

 and occipital crest, 

 white cheeks and 

 throat, and a little 

 white on the wing. 

 The naked lores are 

 pink, the bill and feet apparently red. C. cristata (chavaria 

 auctt.) differs in being dark grey, with a black ring round the neck 

 and whitish-grey cheeks and throat. This is the largest form, and 

 is bigger than a Turkey ; it ranges from South Brazil to Argentina, 

 and shares with Cartama (p. 258) the name of Crested Screamer. 

 Earn. II. The Sub-Order Anseees contains the single cosmo- 



