ANATIDAE 



129 



holes ill trees, on which it is quite at ease. Casarca rutila, the 

 Kuddy Sheld-Drake or Brahminy Duck of South Europe, North 

 Africa, and temperate Asia, which has strayed to Britain and winters 

 in India, Burma, and Formosa, has a huff head, separated from the 

 orange-brown body by a black collar in summer, white wing-coverts, 

 black wing- and tail-quills, purple and green speculum, and black 

 bill and feet. The female is lighter, with no collar. It frequents 

 fresh water, grazes on corn and grass like a goose, and breeds in 

 holes of any sort. C. cana of South Africa differs in its grey head, 

 rufous collar, and black vermiculations above, the female havino- 

 the front of the head white. C. variegata of New Zealand is black 

 relieved by grey, the neck being brown, the anal region and inner 

 secondaries chestnut, the wing-coverts white, the speculum green. 

 The hen-bird has the head white, the lower neck, back, and under 

 parts chestnut, varied with black and white. 0. tadornoules, of 

 South and West Australia and Tasmania, has a glossy green head, 

 white collar, rufous lower neck and chest, black body with fulvous 

 mottlings, white wing - coverts, chestnut inner secondaries, and 

 green speculum, the head of the female being brown. 



Chencdopex aegyptiaca, the " Egyptian Goose," found in Pales- 

 tine and Africa, is rusty or huffish-grey, marked above with black, 

 and with red, white, green, and black on the wing. The nape and 

 collar are rufous ; 'the breast shews a maroon patch, the bill is pink 

 and black, the feet are pink. It has a loud, harsh cry, feeds on land, 

 and lays rather small creamy eggs in cavities of rocks, on trees, or 

 €ven among rushes. C. juhata, of Amazonia and Guiana, is grey, 

 with greenish-black back, wings, and tail, ruddy mantle and belly, 

 purplish-green wing-coverts, and white speculum. The sexes are 

 alike in this genus and the next. 



In Dendrocycna, containing the Tree-Ducks, which occur mostly 

 in the tropics, the main colour is chestnut or dusky-brown, with 

 dark nape and black rump or belly ; but the head may be lighter, 

 the throat or wing^coverts varied with white, or the flanks barred 

 with black and white. D. viduata, of the Ethiopian and Neo- 

 tropical Eegions, has the front of the head white ; D. autumncdis, 

 of Central America, and D. discolor, its greyer representative in 

 northern South America, have red bills and whitish feet ; D. 

 arborea, of the Bahamas and Antilles, has strongly spotted lower 

 parts, as has the larger B. guttata, of Mindanao, Celebes, New 

 Guinea, and the Moluccas ; D.fulva, of the Ethiopian, Neotropical, 



VOL. IX K 



