240 DUCK. 



In England they are pretty common in a tame state, as well as on 

 the Continent ; on the great canal, at Versailles, hundreds are seen 

 mixing with the Swans with the greatest cordiality, and the same at 

 Chantilly : in this kingdom they are likewise thought to be a great 

 ornament to the pieces of water in many gentlemen's seats, where 

 they become very familiar, and breed freely. The flesh of the young 

 birds is accounted good ; and the feathers equal to those of other 

 Geese, so as to prove an article of commerce, much in favour of those 

 places where they are numerous. 



20.— BLACK-BACKED GOOSE. 



Anas melanotos, Ind. O'rn. ii. 839. Gm. Lin. i. 503. Zool. Indie, (folio) p. 21. t. 11. 



Nat. Misc. pi. 421. 

 Ipecati apoa, Marcg. Bras. pi. b. 218. Will. pi. 75. 

 L'Oie bronzee de Coromandel, Buf. ix. 71. PI. enl. 937. 

 Le Canard a Crete, Voy. d'Azara, iv. No. 428. 

 Black-backed Goose, Gen. Syn. vi. 449. 13. Id. Sup. 272. Ind. Zool. 4to. p. 50. 



pi. 13. 



SIZE of a Goose, but of a more slender make ; length two feet 

 nine inches. Bill pale, large, curved downwards at the point ; in 

 the middle, over the nostrils, rather more forward, a large, rounded, 

 fleshy, black excrescence, or knob, of the same colour as the bill, 

 and occupying the whole of it, almost to the point; the head and 

 half the neck white, full of black dots in some, or in others short 

 streaks ; the feathers of those parts as it were ruffled, or reflected ; 

 the rest of the neck and under parts white, tinged with grey on the 

 sides ; the back, wings, and tail, black, bronzed with green, and 

 inclining to blue towards the tail ; legs dusky black. In the female 

 the excrescence at the forehead is considerably smaller, and both 

 sexes have a long and dangerous spur at the bend of the wing. 



This species is very common in the Island of Ceylon, and also 

 inhabits the Coast of Coromandel ; chiefly to the north of the Gauges, 

 but is not very common. We find it in great numbers at Paraguay, 



