WATER FOWL OF INDIA AND ASIA. Z 
MERGANSERS (Merging), being asmall group, may be 
taken next in order. They are to be known from other 
Indian A natide by their narrow tapering bills, more than 
twice as broad at the root as at the tip, which at first 
sight do not seem to belong to birds of this family at 
all, the broad flat round-tipped bill being such an obvious 
difference between Ducks and any other birds. Their 
plumage is pied. 
THE TRUE Ducks (Anatine), which are very much in 
the majority, form the rest of the family. They have 
none of the peculiarities which distinguish the others, 
and are hence chiefly distinguishable by negative 
characters. The biggest of them isnothing like as big 
as a tame Goose, and they are generally smaller than a 
wild one ; their necks are only moderately long, their 
nostrils (except in the Golden-eye) are always nearer the 
root of the beak than the tip; and the beak itself, 
though it varies in width and is sometimes narrowed 
towards the point, never approaches the markedly narrow 
and tapering form of that of the Mergansers. 
