148 ANATID.F.. 



of tlie bodj' ; tarsus somewhat roiiiHleil ; toes three in front, connected by 

 intervening membrane; hind toe free, without pendent lobe or membrane. 

 Wings rather long, pointed. Tail pointed, or wedge-shaped. The sexes 

 differ in plumage. 



The first division, or genus, of the true Ducks, as licre 

 arranged, will contain the Shoveler, Gadwall, Pintail, Bi- 

 niaculated Duck, Wild Duck, Garganey, Teal, and the 

 Wigeons, all of which will be found to have the following 

 characters in common. Externally they exhibit considerable 

 length of neck ; the wings are also long, reaching nearly to 

 the end of the tail ; the tarsi somewhat round; the hind toe 

 free, or having no pendent lobe. In habits they may be 

 stated generally as frequenting fresh- water, but passing much 

 of their time on land, feeding in ditches and about the shal- 

 low margins of pools, on aquatic plants, insects, worms, and 

 occasionally on small fish, taking their food at or near the 

 surface ; possessing great powers of flight, but seldom diving 

 unless pursued. Of their internal soft parts, the stomach 

 is in the greatest degree muscular, forming a true gizzard ; 

 the intestines long ; the csecal appendages from six to nine 

 inches in length, in the larger birds, and decreasing only in 

 proportion to the size of the species. Of the bones it may 

 be observed, that the ribs are short, the angle formed by the 

 union of the last pair on each side extending but little be- 

 yond the line of the posterior edge of the sternum ; the keel 

 of the breast-bone deep, affording great extent of surface for 

 the attachment of large and powerful pectoral muscles ; the 

 enlargement at the bottom of the trachea, in all of them, is 

 of bone only. 



The males of the species of this division are further re- 

 markable for a particular change in the colours of some parts 

 of their plumage, by which they become, for a time during 

 summer, more or less like their females. This alteration in 

 appearance, produced by a partial production of new feathers, 



