WEB-FOOTED BIRDS (Palmipedes, Temm.) 



In this order of birds the bill is of forms too various to 

 admit of any general definition. The feet are short, 

 placed more or less back, and drawn up considerably to- 

 wards the abdomen : anterior toes partially or wholly web- 

 bed, the membrane sometimes deeply sinuated, so as to leave 

 nearly half the length of the toes unconnected : the hind 

 toe articulated interiorly upon the tarsus or wholly absent. 



The female is generally smaller, but in other respects very 

 similar in plumage with the male, except among the Ducks 

 and Mergansers ; the young differ greatly from the adult. 

 They moult usually twice in the year ; and the plumage is 

 peculiarly thick, close, abundantly provided with down, and 

 naturally, without any peculiar provision, so oily as to be 

 impermeable to the water in which this tribe so generally 

 dwell. The body appears almost boat-shaped, or in a form 

 which offers the least resistance to their motion in the water. 

 The tail consists of from 12 to 20 feathers. 



Many of the birds of this order may be almost designa- 

 ted as inhabitants of the sea, they seldom leave it to any great 

 distance, and dwell generally near the coast ; it is rare to 

 meet with them upon fresh waters in the interior of the land, 

 and then chiefly by accident, or when performing their peri- 

 odical passage. The greater number of the species which 

 compose the first genera of this order, repose upon the sur- 

 face of the sea, are indefatigable in flight, habitual swim- 

 mers, but so light and full of feathers as to be almost wholly 

 incapable of diving : others again both swim and submerge ; 

 there are a few which live continually at sea, and but for the 

 necessity of aerial respiration, could almost entirely subsist 



