X PREFACE. 



I have been compelled to qualify it with the word, 

 " about." 



Bearing this fact in mind, therefore, I consider it 

 most unwise and injudicious to create even a subspecies 

 whose only character is that of size, especially when it is 

 attempted to separate birds of different lands which are 

 so exactly alike as not to be disting-uished apart until 

 the tape-line is applied, and even then the test fails at 

 times, as they are often found to be of the same dimen- 

 sions. It will be observed, then, that in certain cases I 

 have not recognized such so-called subspecies or allied 

 forms, believing that, should I do so, I would only con- 

 fuse my reader and perplex any student conscientiously 

 desirous of studying specific relationships. The fact that 

 a species is found in Europe and America is no reason 

 whatever that the specimens from the two hemispheres 

 must be specifically, subspecifically, or in any other de- 

 gree separable, simply because they come from different 

 localities. Yet it would seem that in certain cases some 

 writers were convinced that such must be the fact. 

 A comparatively slight difference in size alone, however, 

 is utterly unreliable as a distinguishing character, and 

 should receive little consideration, save when accom- 

 panied by other and more important distinctions. 



In the Appendix will be found Keys to the Subfamilies, 

 Genera, and Species, and such critical remarks as more 

 properly find there a place. 



The Author has studied the Anatidae for many years, 

 and he has with but few exceptions met all the species 

 mentioned in this book in their native wilds, and the ac- 

 counts given of their habits are derived from his own ob- 

 servation. The majority nest in places not difficult of 

 access, but for a history of the ways, in the breeding sea- 

 son, of the few species that are then found only in the far 



