326 
FLAMINGOES , DUCKS , ^AZ> SCREAMERS. 
banks of rivers, although during the moulting-time, when unable to fly, they seek 
the retirement and shelter of reedy marshes and swamps; and in the breeding- 
season the flocks divide up into pairs. Farther south, according to Messrs. Nicolls 
and Eglinton, they frequent the reedy margins of Lake Ngami and the Chobi and 
Zambesi Rivers, where they breed in immense numbers. When, however, the smaller 
water-courses and pools are filled with water, these birds desert the impenetrable 
swamps, to wander in pairs over the country. “ The broods usually number from 
eight to twelve, the old birds remaining with their progeny for the remainder of 
the season following the nesting. They do not feed in the day, but may be then 
observed in the open water, or standing motionless on some dry bank, rocky 
prominence, or island. When on the wing, they continuously utter a low, hissing 
noise, and shortly after sundown, just before darkness sets in, leave their day- 
resorts and fly to the feeding-ground, which is generally some very shallow pass 
or swamp overgrown with grass, and here they spend the night in search of leeches 
and water animalculse.” The nest is a huge structure of reeds and flags, generally 
built among the reeds, but occasionally in a low bush; and to the northward the 
number of eggs is said to be much less than that above mentioned. During the 
night they generally fly low; and, in accordance with the length of their legs, they 
walk less awkwardly than the true geese. Shy and wary, as well as endowed with 
great vitality, these birds are difficult to kill, and the flesh of the old ones is rank 
and tough. They are easily tamed, and thrive in confinement, although their 
disposition is pugnacious. 
Half-webbed A still more peculiar form than the last is the half-webbed or 
Goose. pied goose (Anseranas melanoleucas) of Australia, in which the front 
toes are only webbed at the base, and the hind one is very long and not raised 
above their level, and furnished with a large claw. The lores are naked, and the 
metatarsus is reticulate and longer than the third toe. This remarkable bird, 
which is about the size of the brent goose, constitutes a distinct subfamily by 
itself, and has a dull black and white plumage, and a hooked beak, with a large, 
warty, comb-like prominence on the front of the head. The claws are long and 
sharp, and the whole foot is adapted for perching. In accordance with this structure, 
these birds sit for hours on the branches of the Australian tea-trees, and but seldom 
enter the water. Their cry is loud and hoarse, but quite unlike that of the common 
goose; and the windpipe is folded on itself, although on the side of, instead of 
within, the breast-bone, as in the swans. 
The large cereopsis goose (Cereopsis novoe-hollcmdice) of New 
Cereopsis Goose. ° V . ° . . ' 
Zealand and Tasmania is the sole existing representative of another 
subfamily characterised by the extreme shortness of the beak, which is covered at 
the base with a waxy skin, and has its extremity bent down and truncated so as 
to approximate in appearance to that of a fowl. The body is very stoutly built 
and massive, the neck short and thick, the head small, the leg long, and the foot 
with short toes, powerful nails, and deeply incised webs. The wings are broad, 
with strong quills; the tail is rounded, and the body-plumage soft. The colour of 
the plumage is a clear ashy grey, with brown reflections, passing into lighter grey 
on the crown of the head, and marked on the back with blackish brown spots near 
the tips of the feathers; the under tail-coverts and the tips of some of the wing- 
