60 ORNAMENTAL WATERFOWL. 
the Indian species in its inferior size. The two forms are con- 
sidered to be identical by Count Salvadori in the ‘‘ Catalogue 
of Birds.” 
They occasionally come into the market at prices from 
44 to £5 each. 
In a paper addressed to the “Ibis,” of January, 1904, Mr. 
F. E. Blaauw writes as follows :— 
“T kept a pair of the African Comb-Goose (Sarctdiornts africana) 
for many years without their showing any signs of breeding. Last summer, 
however, I saw the birds mate repeatedly, and the female began to wander 
about restlessly in search of a suitable nesting place. As she was pinioned, 
and quite unable to fly, I was not a little surprised to find her one day in one 
enclosure, and another day in a second, although the wite netting partitions 
which surrounded them were quite six feet high. The only explanation is 
that she must have climbed the fence, as she could certainly not have gone 
through it. In some of the enclosures there are hedges of 7hz/a, with a 
wire netting fence two feet high in front of them, to prevent the geese 
getting underneath. The female finally decided to make her nest under one 
of these hedges. To get there she was seen to jump upon this two feet high 
fence, balance herself on the thin top and plunge into the hedge. She 
scraped a little round depression in the soil under the evergreens, and then 
laid her eggs, accomplishing her jumping feat each time that she wanted to 
go in or out to her nest. Unfortunately she did not care to sit, so that we 
hnd to put her eggs under a bantam hen. I am sorry to say, however, that 
they did uot hatch, but proved to be unfertile. The eggs are yellowish 
white, and rather more pointed at one end than the other.” 
GENUS ASARCORMNIS. 
WHITE-WINGED WOOD-DUCK. 
(Asacornts scutulata. Casarca leucoptera). 
The bird, formerly classed as a Sheldrake, is now acknow- 
ledged to be allied to Savcidiornis, and Salvadori gives it a 
genus to itself as Asarcornis. It greatly resembles the Black- 
backed Goose, but is devoid of comb. 
