Chen hyperboreus, the "Wavy" of North-East Asia and North-West America, with its larger Eastern American race, C. nivalis, and C. rossi of Arctic America–which wander south in winter, while the first has occurred in Britain and North Europe–are white, with black primaries, purplish-red bills and feet; C. rossi having a warty base to the maxilla. C. caerulescens, of eastern North America, is grey-brown, with white head, bluish rump and wing-coverts. The food consists of rushes, insects, and berries.
Sub-fam. 8. Cereopsinae.–Cereopsis novae hollandiae, the Cape Barren Goose of South-East Australia and Tasmania, is grey-brown, with large yellow cere, chiefly reddish-orange feet, black toes and beak. More terrestrial than its nearest kin, it lays similar eggs. The very large extinct Cnemiornis, of the superficial deposits of New Zealand, was a close ally, with aborted keel to the sternum and short wings useless for flight.
Sub-fam. 9. Plectropterinae.–Aex sponsa,[[118]] the Summer Duck of North America and Cuba, accidental in Jamaica and the Bermudas, has the upper parts mainly glossy green, with purple cheeks, black neck-patches, and white stripes on the face and neck; the breast is chestnut with white spots, the throat and belly are white, the wing-coverts partly blue, the flanks brown, black, and white; the bill is black, white, yellow, purplish, and scarlet; the feet are yellow. It has a long occipital crest. The female is grey-brown with metallic gloss, a white throat and eye-space, plumbeous and black bill, and brownish feet. This inland species feeds on insects, seeds, leaves, and acorns, and lays buff eggs in holes in trees. Aex galericulata, the Mandarin Duck of East Asia, is somewhat similar, but has a neck-ruff of narrow chestnut feathers streaked with whitish, a chestnut and black "fan" formed by the decurved innermost secondary, a copper, purple, and green crest, and a red-brown bill. The female is brown, grey, and white.
Nettopus pulchellus, of Australia, New Guinea, and the Moluccas, has the upper parts and neck-collar dark green, the head browner, the remiges and rectrices black with a white wing-bar, the cheeks and lower parts white, the sides marked with green crescentic bands, and the bill and feet black. N. coromandelianus, extending from the Indian Region to Celebes, has a white neck, a brown band across the breast, and the flanks freckled with grey; N. albipennis, of East Australia, is similar but larger; N. auritus, of West and South Africa with Madagascar, has a sea-green patch on each side of the occiput, the lower part of the neck and the flanks being rufous. The females are much duller. These Pigmy Geese frequent small lakes and dive admirably; the note is a cackle; the nest, placed in holes in trees or ruins, if not among grass, contains from six to twelve white eggs.
Pteronetta hartlaubi, of West Africa, is chestnut with black head and blue wing-coverts in both sexes. Rhodonessa caryophyllacea, of India and Burma, is rich brown dotted with whitish, the head and nape being pink, the speculum salmon-coloured, the bill reddish-white, the feet blackish. It lays round white eggs.
Asarcornis scutulata, ranging from East Bengal to Java, has a black and white head, black mantle and under surface, greenish-olive upper parts, with black and white on the wings, a blue-grey speculum, reddish bill and feet. Sarcidiornis melanonota, of India, Ceylon, Burma, and the Ethiopian Region, is black with metallic hues above, and white below; the head and neck are black and white, the rump is grey, the tail brown, the feet, bill, and its basal comb or caruncle black. S. carunculata, of Brazil, Paraguay, and North Argentina, differs in its black rump. The comb is largest in the breeding season, and is wanting in females. These Wattle-Ducks perch on trees and breed in cavities of the trunks, laying a dozen or more white eggs. The note is harsh and the flight slow. Cairina moschata, the Muscovy–or more correctly Musk–Duck of ornamental waters, extends from Mexico to Argentina; the crested head, neck, and lower parts are brownish-black; the upper surface is glossy green, with purple on the back and white wing-coverts; the bill is black and white; the feet are black; and the frontal and orbital caruncles of the male red. It inhabits forest-swamps, roosts in trees, eats maize, mandioc roots, and herbage, and nests in holes in trees or between forking branches. Plectropterus gambensis of Mid-Africa, P. rüppelli of the North-East, P. niger of the South-East, and P. scioanus of Shoa, the four hardly separable Spur-winged Geese, are metallic black, with more or less white on the sides of the head, lesser wing-coverts, throat, and abdomen; the feet, bill, frontal knob, and caruncles on the forehead when present being red. The female has no knob. They frequent marshes, appear to prefer running to flying or perching, and lay about eight whitish eggs.
Sub-fam. 10. Anseranatinae.–This contains only Anseranas semipalmata of Australia and Tasmania, a white bird with black head, neck, mantle, wings, and tail, reddish beak, and yellow feet. It haunts swamps, walks easily, and deposits some five white eggs.
Sub-fam. 11. Cygninae.–In this group the sexes are similar. Coscoroba candida, of southern South America, is white, with black tips to the primaries, pinkish bill and feet. It feeds on land, has a loud trumpeting cry, and a less noisy flight than the true Swans, from which it differs in its feathered lores. Chenopis atrata, the Black Swan of Southern Australia and Tasmania, occasionally domesticated in England, is brownish-black, with white remiges, black feet, pink lores, and pink bill banded with white, the scapulars and inner secondaries being curled.
Cygnus musicus, the Whooper, which used to breed in Orkney, and ranges from Iceland through Arctic Europe and Asia, migrating to the Mediterranean, Nepal, China, and Japan, and straying to Greenland, is white with black feet and bill, the basal half of the latter being yellow, while that colour extends still further on the sides. The flight is accompanied by a rushing sound, the note is trumpet-like or whistling, the food consists of aquatic plants, the five or more white eggs are laid upon a pile of herbage near water. The smaller C. bewicki, where the yellow on the bill does not reach the nostrils, inhabits the Arctic districts from the White Sea to the Pacific, wandering in winter to Britain, the Mediterranean, South Siberia, China, and Japan. C. columbianus of North America, said to have occurred in Scotland, has merely a yellow spot before the eye; C. buccinator, of the interior of North America, has a black bill; while C. olor, the Mute or Tame Swan, with its variety the Polish Swan, has the fore-part of it orange. C. olor ranges from South Sweden and Denmark through Central Europe and Asia, migrating a little southwards. C. melanocoryphus, reaching from South Brazil and Chili to Patagonia and the Falklands, has the head and two-thirds of the neck black, with white eye-streak; the bill is plumbeous with red base and knob, the feet are pinkish. The protuberance is wanting in the young, which are marked with rusty, and have the head brown. Of other species immature birds are greyish or dusky, with flesh-coloured and black beak, except in C. olor, where it is plumbeous. In habits Swans are much alike, though the notes differ somewhat, and the Mute Swan merely hisses or croaks in captivity; the latter and the Black Swan are noted for the graceful curve of the neck and their greenish eggs; while the wing-feathers and scapulars are habitually puffed out when on the water. Swans were "Royal Birds" in mediaeval England, and a licence was necessary to keep them, but for this subject and that of the "Swan-marks" on the bill, as well as for accounts of decoys, hybrids, and domestic races in the Family, the reader must be referred to the works of Professor Newton,[[119]] Count Salvadori,[[120]] and other authors.
