duck. 295 



58— CURVE-BILLED DUCK. 



Anas curvirostra, Ind. Orn. ii. 852. Gm. Lin.'u 537. Pall. Spic. vi. p. 33. 

 Curve-billed Duck, Gen. Syn. vi. 496. 



SIZE of the Mallard, if not bigger. Bill as in that bird, but 

 bent downwards; irides fulvous; general colour of the plumage 

 black, but more dull on the quills and under parts; the head, neck, 

 and rump, tinged with shining grey ; on the throat an oval spot of 

 white; the five first quills white; the others black; the exterior 

 secondary quill margined with white on the outer edge, at the end ; 

 but the outer margins in general have a gloss of blue black, forming 

 a speculum of that colour on the wing; tail as in the Mallard, with 

 the two middle feathers recurved as in that bird. 



The above was described from a specimen in the late Museum of 

 M. Vroeg, now dispersed, and in the Prince of Orange's Museum. 

 The author supposed it not to be a Variety of the Mallard, with 

 a hooked bill, but a distinct species. 



59— SEMIPALMATED GOOSE— Pl. clxxviii. 



Anas semipalmata, Ind. Orn. Sup. p. Ixix. Lin. Trans, iv. p. 103. vi. — the trachea. 

 Semipalmated Goose, Gen. Syn. Sup. ii. 347. pl. 139. Penn. Outlines, iv. 129. 



THIS is nearly the size of the Wild Goose. Bill brown, the 

 cere at the base passing on each side to the eye ; irides bluish ; head, 

 neck, and thighs, brownish black ; round the lower part of the neck 

 white, extending to the beginning of the back, and all beneath ; 

 the rump is also white ; the rest of the back and wings deep brown ; 

 quills and tail darker, approaching to black ; legs red ; toes webbed 

 only for about half way from the base. In some birds the white 

 surrounds the neck as a collar, in others extends between the 

 shoulders to the back. 



