Tadorna cornuta, the Sheld-Drake or Bargander, which ranges from Britain across Europe and temperate Asia to Japan, and migrates to the Mediterranean basin, North India, and South China, has the bill and the basal knob–wanting in the female–red, the feet pink, the head glossy green; it shews a white collar on the lower neck followed by a broad chestnut band; blackish outer scapulars, remiges, and tip of the tail; a patch of chestnut on the inner secondaries, a green speculum, and a brown line down the under parts, the remaining portions being white. This bird frequents sandy coasts and muddy flats throughout the year, nesting in burrows, or rarely among rocks, masonry, or bushes, and laying some ten shiny white eggs. The flight is powerful and heavy; the note is a shrill whistle or barking quack; the food consists of aquatic plants, molluscs, and insects. T. radjah, of Australia, Papuasia, and the Moluccas, is white in both sexes, with blackish scapulars, back, rump, primaries, and rectrices; the mantle is vermiculated with chestnut, the similarly-coloured pectoral band is barred with black, the speculum is green with black posterior margin, the bill and feet are whitish. It breeds commonly in holes in trees, on which it is quite at ease. Casarca rutila, the Ruddy Sheld-Drake or Brahminy Duck of South Europe, North Africa, and temperate Asia, which has strayed to Britain and winters in India, Burma, and Formosa, has a buff head, separated from the orange-brown body by a black collar in summer, white wing-coverts, black wing- and tail-quills, purple and green speculum, and black bill and feet. The female is lighter, with no collar. It frequents fresh water, grazes on corn and grass like a goose, and breeds in holes of any sort. C. cana of South Africa differs in its grey head, rufous collar, and black vermiculations above, the female having the front of the head white. C. variegata of New Zealand is black relieved by grey, the neck being brown, the anal region and inner secondaries chestnut, the wing-coverts white, the speculum green. The hen-bird has the head white, the lower neck, back, and under parts chestnut, varied with black and white. C. tadornoïdes, of South and West Australia and Tasmania, has a glossy green head, white collar, rufous lower neck and chest, black body with fulvous mottlings, white wing-coverts, chestnut inner secondaries, and green speculum, the head of the female being brown.
Chenalopex aegyptiaca, the "Egyptian Goose," found in Palestine and Africa, is rusty or buffish-grey, marked above with black, and with red, white, green, and black on the wing. The nape and collar are rufous; the breast shews a maroon patch, the bill is pink and black, the feet are pink. It has a loud, harsh cry, feeds on land, and lays rather small creamy eggs in cavities of rocks, on trees, or even among rushes. C. jubata, of Amazonia and Guiana, is grey, with greenish-black back, wings, and tail, ruddy mantle and belly, purplish-green wing-coverts, and white speculum. The sexes are alike in this genus and the next.
In Dendrocycna, containing the Tree-Ducks, which occur mostly in the tropics, the main colour is chestnut or dusky-brown, with dark nape and black rump or belly; but the head may be lighter, the throat or wing-coverts varied with white, or the flanks barred with black and white. D. viduata, of the Ethiopian and Neotropical Regions, has the front of the head white; D. autumnalis, of Central America, and D. discolor, its greyer representative in northern South America, have red bills and whitish feet; D. arborea, of the Bahamas and Antilles, has strongly spotted lower parts, as has the larger D. guttata, of Mindanao, Celebes, New Guinea, and the Moluccas; D. fulva, of the Ethiopian, Neotropical, and Indian Regions, has white upper and under tail-coverts; D. javanica, of the latter area only, has them chestnut above and fulvous white below; D. arcuata, ranging from the Malay Archipelago to Fiji, has the breast chestnut barred with black; D. eytoni, of Australia, which has strayed to New Zealand, has it yellowish-brown. These birds fly slowly and heavily, and perch regularly on trees, where they sway awkwardly about upon the branches; the note is a clear whistle or a chattering sound; the food consists mainly of fish and water-plants, sought at all times of day. In winter the flocks cause great damage to corn or rice near the lagoons and other waters they frequent. The nest, placed in hollow trees, stumps, long grass, or deserted habitations of other birds, contains from six to twelve white eggs.
Sub-fam. 6. Chenonettinae.–Chenonetta jubata of Australia has a brown head, long black feathers on the hind-neck, greyish upper parts with black tail, rump, and edges to the scapulars, a green speculum with white borders, a breast mottled with black, grey, and whitish, and a black abdomen. The female is paler, with dull speculum and white belly. It lays its creamy-white eggs in the bush districts in hollow trees, perching even on the tallest of them, and uttering a barking note. Cyanochen cyanoptera, of Abyssinia and Shoa, is grey-brown in both sexes, with black wings relieved by lead-blue coverts, and green speculum tipped with white. Chloëphaga hybrida, the Kelp Goose of Patagonia and the Falklands, which lives and breeds on the beach, is white, having a black bill with basal yellow spot, and yellow feet. The female is brownish-black with white rump, tail, and anal region, and black lower parts barred with white; the neck shews narrow white bands on its sides, the black and white wing has the greater coverts green, and the bill is flesh-coloured. C. melanoptera, of Western America from Peru southwards, is distinguished by brown and white scapulars, black primaries and tail, green and purple wing-coverts, red bill and feet; the female being similar. C. magellanica, the Upland Goose, coextensive in range with C. hybrida, is white, barred with black above; the rump, four median rectrices, and wings being grey-black, with green and white on the wing-coverts, and white secondaries; the bill and feet are dusky. The female is rufous and black, with similar wings but yellow feet. C. inornata, of Chili, Argentina, and Patagonia, differs in having black pectoral bands and a grey head in the female. C. poliocephala, of the same countries, with plumbeous, and C. rubidiceps, of the Falklands, with cinnamon head, have in both sexes chestnut and black plumage, the wing being as in C. magellanica, the bill black, the feet black and orange. C. melanoptera will nest in holes in cliffs.
Fig. 35.–Red-breasted Goose. Bernicla ruficollis. × ⅐.
Sub-fam. 7. Anserinae.–In this group the female resembles the male. Nesochen sandvicensis, of the Sandwich Islands, has a black head and throat, brown plumage barred with whitish and black, and buff sides of the neck with black stripes. It inhabits craters and "lava-flows" on hills, and is fond of berries. The members of the genus Bernicla, or Black Geese, are grey and black, with a varying amount of white, and have black bills and feet. B. brenta, the Brent Goose, our commonest winter species, is brownish-black, with darker head, neck, and breast, white tail-coverts and lateral neck-patches. It is found in the Arctic Regions, and migrates as far as the Mediterranean and the Mississippi. It feeds by day in shallows on grass-wrack, laver, crustaceans, and insects, has a loud note, and lays about four cream-coloured eggs. From western Arctic America to the Lena occurs the form B. nigricans with white collar and black belly. B. leucopsis, the Bernacle Goose, migrating to the same districts as B. brenta, abounding on our west coasts in winter, and occupying in summer Arctic Europe and Greenland, where it is supposed to breed, has nested in one place in Norway. The front of the head is white, the crown and neck are black, the mantle is lavender-grey marked with black and white, the under parts are greyish. Unlike the Brent Goose, it feeds at night. B. canadensis, of temperate North America, wintering down to Mexico, has a triangular white patch on each side of the black head, and is comparatively large; B. hutchinsi is a smaller and more Arctic form, B. minima and B. occidentalis north-western races of the same. B. ruficollis, the Red-breasted Goose of West Siberia, which migrates southwards, strays to Britain, and is portrayed in the paintings of Egypt, is black, with white loral patch, rump, sides and belly, the ear-coverts, fore-neck, and chest are chestnut outlined by white, and the two wing-bands are grey.
Philacte canagica, the Emperor Goose of North-East Asia and North-West America, is blue-grey with black and white bars, the head and nape being white tinted with orange, the throat brownish, the bill purplish-blue with white nail, and the feet orange.
Cycnopsis cycnoïdes, the Chinese Goose of East Asia, is mainly grey-brown above and whitish below, with rufous edges to the feathers; the head and neck are white with a brown band down the crown and nape; the bill is black, or in the domesticated form red with a frontal knob; the feet are orange.
Anser cinereus, the Grey-Lag, which nests in North Scotland and as far south as Spain and Kashgaria, ranges from Iceland to China, the Eastern race being called A. rubrirostris; A. albifrons, the White-fronted Goose, is found in Britain and most Palaearctic countries in winter, and chiefly eastward of Norway in summer; A. segetum, the Bean Goose, another of our hibernal visitants, breeds from Scandinavia to Amurland, and migrates southward to Madeira, North Africa, China, and Japan; A. brachyrhynchus, the Pink-footed Goose, extends over North Europe, and is common with us in the cold season; A. indicus inhabits Central Asia and North India. A. middendorffi (grandis) of East Siberia is a large form of the Bean Goose; while the small A. erythropus, once shot in Britain, has a similar range to the White-fronted Goose, of which both it and the big A. gambeli of North America may be considered sub-species. The general coloration in this genus is grey-brown; in the Grey-Lag the bill and feet are flesh-coloured with white nail, in the White-fronted Goose orange, the latter having a white forehead and white breast with black bars. In the Bean and Pink-footed Geese the nail is black, but the bill and feet are orange-and-black and pink respectively. A. indicus is lighter, with brown hind-neck, and two black crescents on the back of the white head. All these Grey Geese feed chiefly by day among green corn, stubble, peas, beans or clover, retiring at night to sand-banks or mud-flats in winter; the note, often syllabled "honk-honk," is at times almost a cackle, whence the flocks or "skeins" are called "gaggles." The nest, placed in herbage or heather, is of grass, moss, twigs, or aquatic plants, and contains five or more whitish eggs.