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XVII. CRTBRATOBES. SIFTEES. 



By the ordinal name of Cribratores I designate the 

 extensive, beautiful, and to man very important, and there- 

 fore very interesting group of birds, which Cuvier has named 

 Lamellieostres, — his appellation being indicative of struc- 

 ture, while mine, in this as in other cases, is descriptive of 

 function. It is, in fact, the lamellated bill that renders them 

 Sifters, and the structure and function of that organ are 

 peculiar and distinctive, being found in no other birds. Nay, 

 more, they belong to every species of the entire series, 

 although, of course, presenting considerable modifications. 



The birds of which this order is composed are known by 

 the familiar names of Geese, Swans, Ducks, Teals, Wigeons, 

 Pochards, Shovellers, and others ; together with the Flamin- 

 goes and Mergansers. These all agree in having the bill 

 covered with soft skin, the only hard or horny parts being 

 the two ungues or nail-like bodies situated one at the tip of 

 each mandible, and in the presence of numerous transverse 

 or oblique elevated lamellae on the inner sides of both man- 

 dibles ; at the margins of which they are generally enlarged, 

 and assume various forms in the different species, of which 

 the bill may thus be described as marginally lamellate, pec- 

 tinate, serrate, or denticulate. It is impossible to mistake 

 any member of the family, and therefore much time needs 

 not be occupied with its distinctive characters ; but a single 

 genus and a small group seem, at first sight, to stand aloof 

 from the rest. Of the group alluded to, that of the Mer- 

 gansers, the characters will subsequently be given in detail ; 

 and the genus, that of the Flamingoes, with which, as stu- 



