THE BIRDS OF LIBERIA 653 
Dendrocygna viduata (Linné). White-faced Tree Duck 
Anas viduata Linné, Syst. Nat., ed. 12, vol. 1, p. 205, 1766: Cartagena, Venezuela. 
Length 20 inches; fore part of head, chin and spot in middle of throat white, back of head, 
neck, wings, lower back, rump, tail-coverts black; side buff barred with black, lower neck chestnut, 
back brown; center of lower side and feet gray. Africa south of the Sahara and South America. 
We secured no specimens of this duck, but a pair seen circling once or twice 
about a large tree on the Du River, was probably of this species. Biittikofer 
(1885, p. 249) obtained specimens near Cape Mount on the sand banks and islets 
at the mouths of rivers, where in pairs or in small flocks of three or four pairs 
together, they came to feed. He found them exceedingly wary and never saw 
them perching in trees or among the mangroves. On September 9, a male was 
brought to him by a native who said he had caught it on a nest containing seven 
eggs, which later Biittikofer was shown, in dry grass under some shrubs near the 
mouth of Grand Cape Mount River. On August 16, seven downy young were 
caught on a grassy plain near the seacoast. In southeastern Sierra Leone, at 
Rotifunk, it was found plentifully by Kemp (1905). 
Sarkidiornis melanonotus (Pennant). Comb or Knob-billed Duck 
Anser melanonotus Pennant, Ind. Zool., p. 12, pl. 11, 1769: Ceylon. 
Size large, about 29 inches long, head and upper neck whitish with black spots, lower neck and 
breast white; back and wings black with iridescence, tail gray. Female similar but paler. Male 
with a large knob-like excrescence on the base of upper bill. Africa south of the Sahara, and in 
India. 
The only record is that of Biittikofer (1885) who writes that he many times 
observed this species in pairs or small parties up to five birds on sand banks at 
the mouth of the Sugary River, but was never able to come within gunshot of 
them. They are probably rare over much of the country. 
Plectropterus gambensis gambensis (Linné). Spur-winged Goose 
Anas gambensis Linné, Syst. Nat., ed. 12, vol. 1, p. 195, 1766: Gambia. 
Size of a goose, wing with a sharp spur at the bend, in the male; black with steely reflections; 
more or less white on sides of head, throat, breast, belly, and at the bend of the wing; female similar 
but smaller. Africa south of the Sahara, except Madagascar. 
This must be an uncommon bird in Liberia. We did not identify it, nor did 
Biittikofer observe it ‘‘in the wild state,” although a female was taken by his 
companion Sala, near Fisherman Lake, Cape Mount, and in mid-November 
nine of a brood of eleven ducklings some three weeks old, were brought to him, 
taken in the Marfa River. Evidently it prefers somewhat more open country, 
for in the interior of Sierra Leone, Thompson (1925, p. 67) found it plentiful 
‘“wherever low, flat grass-fields and flooded ground occur.” | 
