Editing Muscovy duck (section)

===Species name "''moschata''"===
[[File:Muscovy Duck (Cairina moschata) male.jpg|thumb|left|Male swimming, with the green iridescence of the plumage showing in good light]]
Linnaeus' description of ''Anas moschata'' only consists of a curt but entirely unequivocal ''[Anas] facie nuda papillosa'' ("A duck with a naked and carunculated face"), and his primary reference is his earlier work ''Fauna Svecica''.<ref name=Linnaeus1746/> But Linnaeus refers also to older sources, wherein much information on the origin of the common name is found.

[[Conrad Gessner]] is given by Linnaeus as a source, but the ''[[Historia animalium (Gessner book)|Historia animalium]]'' mentions the Muscovy duck only in passing.<ref>{{harvnb|Gessner|1555|p=118}}; not p. 122 as per Linnaeus (1741, 1758): see {{harvnb|Aldrovandi|1637|p=192}} and {{harvnb|Willughby|1676|p=295}}</ref> [[Ulisse Aldrovandi]]<ref>{{harvnb|Aldrovandi|1637|pp=192–201}}</ref> discusses the species in detail, referring to the wild birds and its domestic breeds variously as ''anas cairina'', ''anas indica'' or ''anas libyca'' – "duck from [[Cairo]]", "Indian duck" (in reference to the [[West Indies]]) or "[[Libya]]n duck". But his ''anas indica'' (based, like Gessner's brief discussion, ultimately on the reports of [[Christopher Columbus]]'s travels) also seems to have included another [[species]],<ref>{{harvnb|Aldrovandi|1637|pp=192, 194}}: ''Anas indica alia''</ref> perhaps a [[whistling-duck]] (''Dendrocygna''). Already however the species is tied to some more or less nondescript "exotic" locality, "Libya" could still refer to [[Ancient Libya|any place in Northern Africa]] at that time, where it did not occur naturally. [[Francis Willughby]] discusses "The Muscovy duck" as ''anas moschata'' and expresses his belief that Aldrovandi's and Gessner's ''anas cairina'', ''anas indica'' and ''anas libyca'' (which he calls "The Guiny duck", adding another mistaken place of origin to the list) all refer to the same species.<ref>{{harvnb|Willughby|1676|pp=294–295}}</ref> Finally, [[John Ray]] attempts to clear up the confusion by providing an alternative explanation for the name's [[etymology]]:
<blockquote>In English, it is called ''The Muscovy-Duck'', though this is not transferred from Muscovia [the [[Neo-Latin]] name of Muscovy], but from the rather strong musk odour it exudes.<ref name=Ray/></blockquote>

Linnaeus came to witness its "[[Game (food)|gamey]]" aroma first-hand, as he attests in the ''Fauna Svecica'' and again in the [[Travel literature|travelogue]] of this 1746 [[Västergötland]] excursion.<ref name=Linnaeus1746/><ref name=Linnaeus1747/> Similarly, the [[Russian (language)|Russian]] name of this species, ''muskusnaya utka'' (Мускусная утка), means "musk duck", without any reference to Moscow, as do the [[Bokmål]] and [[Danish (language)|Danish]] ''moskusand'', [[Dutch (language)|Dutch]] ''muskuseend'', [[Finnish (language)|Finnish]] ''myskisorsa'', [[French (language)|French]] ''canard musqué'', [[German (language)|German]] ''Moschusente'', [[Italian (language)|Italian]] ''anatra muschiata'', [[Spanish (language)|Spanish]] ''pato almizclado'' and [[Swedish (language)|Swedish]] ''myskand''. In English, however, [[musk duck]] refers to the [[Australia]]n species ''Biziura lobata''.