Okder ANSERES. 



THE LAMELLIROSTRAL SWBIMERS. 



Char. Lamellirostral Swimmmg Birds, with straight hills, short legs (always 

 shorter than the wing), the tibite usually completely feathered, and scarcely free 

 from the body ; hallux well developed, though usually small, never absent. Eepro- 

 duction prnecocial, and young ptilopsedic ; eggs numerous and unmarked, with a 

 hard, usually very smooth, shell. 



Like the Phoenicopteri, the Order Anseres is composed of a single family, which, 

 however, includes very nmnerous genera and species. The Order is represented in 

 every portion of the globe, but most numerously in the northern hemisphere. 



Family ANATID^E. — The Swans, Geese, and Ducks. 



Char. The same as those of the Order. 



The Family Anatidce, which includes all the known Anseres proper, or Lamelli- 

 rostral Swimmers, constitutes so well-marked and natural a group of birds as to need 

 no further definition than tliat given above. The Anatidce are allied most nearly to 

 the Phaniicopteridw, or Flamingoes, Avhich, however, are trenchantly separated by 

 many striking peculiarities of structure. The species being very numerous, naturally 

 fall into several more or less well-defined groups, which have been accorded tlie rank 

 of sub-families. These, hoAvever, grade so insensibly into one another, that it is 

 extremely doubtful whether this rank can be maintained for them.^ Birds of this 

 family are found in every known part of the world ; but they abound most in the 

 northern hemisphere, particularly in boreal regions. The Xorth American repre- 

 sentatives may, for convenience of classification, be divided into three tolerably 

 well-defined groups, as follows : — 



Cyguiuae. Neck extremely long (as long as or longer than the body) ; size very large ; bill 

 longer than the head, the edges parallel, the nail small ; tarsi shorter than middle toe ; 

 lores naked ; tail-feathers 20-24 ; color chiefly or entirely white (except in Oienopis 

 atrata, the Black iSwan of Anstralia). 



1 " The whole family Anatidce forms, as to structural features, a very homogeneous group, and inter- 

 mediate links are everywhere to be found. Thus it is very difficult to define the suh-families anatomically, 

 and to give the structural differences by which they are to be separated, so that I find it not improbable 

 that an exact investigation, based on a more abundant material than T can at present procure, will reduce 

 the sub-families to groups of lower rank." — Stejnegek, in Pioc. U. S. Nat. Mus., Vol. 5, 1882, pp. 

 174, 175. 



