of the Family of Anaiidce. 25 



tinguished from all other ducks of this division by its flying 

 with great rapidity. This has been observed by Wilson (Am. 

 Orn., viii. p. 121), who adds the important fact, that * it is a 

 very quick diver.' Bewick also remarks, that ' these birds shew 

 themselves expert in diving as well as in swimming, for the 

 instant they see the flash of the pan, they disappear, and dive 

 to a distant secure retreat.' Now as this power of diving is 

 not one of the characteristics of the typical Ducks, and is much 

 more conspicuous in the Gadwall than in any other, the fact 

 can receive no other explanation than by supposing this sub- 

 genus to represent the order Natatores, and consequently the 

 Fissirostres. The former are the dullest in their plumage, 

 and the most aquatic in their habits ; while the latter, which 

 includes the Swallows, are the swiftest fliers in the whole circle 

 of ornithology. Precisely as is the Gadwall in its own group. 



The pintail Duck, independent of its pointed tail (a charac- 

 ter which it shares Avith the Widgeons, and the sub-genus 

 Harelda, Leach) is remarkable for its long neck, and for its 

 narrow lengthened bill. Now every ornithologist is aware that 

 all such birds as have these parts greatly developed, belong 

 either to the order of Waders or to the tribe of Tenuirostres. 

 The long necks of the herons, the curlews, the cranes, in short 

 of nearly all the Grallatores, incontestably prove this ; and if 

 we look to the Humming and other suctorial birds of the 

 tenuirostral type, we see that both groups are more especially 

 characterised by these marks*. 



There now remains but one division of the genus to be 

 tested, and this must be compared both with the Scansores 

 and the Rasores. Let us look then, to those peculiarities 

 which especially distinguish the common duck, the Anas (Bos- 

 chas) domestica of Linnaeus. First, its bill, from having the 

 laminae so short as not to project beyond the margin, is more 

 entire than any other. Secondly, it appears to be that pecu- 

 liar species which has been endowed by ALMIGHTY WISDOM 

 with a disposition favourable to domestication. In every cli- 



* Montague, whose writings are replete with original and important facts, was 

 the first to record that the male Pintail undergoes an annual change of plumage. 

 Now this is one of the strongest peculiarities of the order Grallatores and of the 

 Tenuirostres. In these groups, and these only, is this annual change almost 

 universal* 



