Genus — V I R A G 0 . 
Virago Newton, Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lond.) 1871, p. 651 ... Type F. castanea. 
Small Anatine birds with long bills and other characters generally agreeing 
with those of the genus Anas. 
The bill is not longer than the head, depressed and narrow, its width 
less than its depth at base of culmen which is less than half its length ; 
the serrations on the edges of the upper mandible just visible, the edges 
being strictly parallel. 
The tail is more than one-third the length of the wing, nearly 
approaching half its length in some cases. 
The metatarsus is just exceeded by the middle toe in length, but generally 
just equals the length of the culmen. Superficially the bO in this genus 
is more compressed and comparatively narrower than Nettion : the nostrhs 
placed nearer the base of the biQ. The legs and feet are shorter and a 
different coloration is easily observed. 
I note this as Salvadori placed these birds in the genus Nettion, 
and then admitted Querquedula, whose coloration fairly agrees in style with 
that of typical Nettion, while these absolutely differ. 
The name of this genus was given by Newton on account of an 
anatomical discovery that the females of the type species agreed in having 
an anatomical peculiarity otherwise only found in, and peculiar to, the males 
of this family of birds. This “ discovery ” seems to have been based on an 
erroneous supposition that the females could be guessed by coloration, 
and it seems that Newton did not sex the birds he examined, but simply 
thought they were females. At any rate, Newton’s discovery does not 
appear to have been confirmed, and Ramsay concluded that Neivton’s 
“ females ” of the bird he called Virago castanea were reaUy males of the next 
speces, F. gibber if rons. I use Newton’s generic name, as externally those 
two species differ from Nettion or Anas, the two nearest related genera. 
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