ORNAMENTAL WATERFOWL. 55 
GENUS CAIRINA. 
Only one species of this genus is as yet known, repre- 
sented by a bird which for many years has bred freely in 
Europe, exhibiting under domestication a remarkable variation 
from its original plumage. Catrina moschata is an inhabitant 
of South and Central America. 
MUSCOVY DUCK. 
(Catrina moschata). 
This bird, also known as the “Barbary” or “ Brazilian” 
Goose,” inhabits the hottest portions of tropical America. 
“During the day it lives in swamps, where it finds congenial 
food, and towards the evening may be seen sitting in rows 
on the lower branches of large trees, descending then to make 
inroads into the maize plantations and cornfields, where it does 
considerable damage, plucking up at the same time the 
mandioca or tapioca plants” (P.Z.S., 1876). 
It has long been introduced as a domestic variety, some 
authors stating the date of its introduction to be as far back 
as the Spanish Conquest of America. The bird is chiefly 
remarkable for its enormous size; adult male specimens occa- 
sionally weighing fourteen to fifteen pounds, the female 
exhibiting a strange disparity in this matter, seldom weighing 
more than half that of her mate. The most ordinary colour is 
black splashed with white, chiefly about the head and neck ; 
some are also pure white, and occasionally a kind of beautiful 
slaty-blue, which, however, is very rarely seen. The name by 
which this variety is most generally known is supposed by 
some to have reference to a musky odour, perceptible both in 
the plumage and flesh of the bird. In Mowbray’s old Treatise 
on Poultry, a suggestion is made that the designation of Muscovy 
