CHAP EBROV IT: 
True Ducks.—(Continued. ) 
HAVING now disposed of the diving A nating, we come 
to the pedestrian and perching contingent, character- 
ized by bearing some resemblance, either in structure or 
habits, to the Geese, as the divers did to the Mergansers. 
I group together the genera composing this secticn 
purely for convenience, as they have often little in 
common and are not always nearly related. But the 
same may be said of some of the diving genera,* which 
are nevertheless always grouped together ; and it is 
important to break up this big sub-family into manage- 
able groups. 
The goose-like Ducks, then, have this common point 
of difference from the rest of the sub-family, that the 
bill and shank are about equally long ; the latter may 
be short, and in that case the bill is so also. The bill 
is never Jong, but a comparatively short bill means a 
long shank for a Duck if the lengths are equal, an ordi- 
nary Duck’s beak much exceeding its leg in length. 
Most of the present section have the sexes alike, or nearly 
so, in plumage, which is striking, and forms an easy 
means of identification. 
The seven goose-like genera, comprising eight species, 
*I pointed out above, for instance, that the Golden-eye is nearer the 
Mergansers than the Pochards; and the Stiff-tail with its foreign allies 
(genus EArismatura) do not closely resemble any other diving Duck, 
while in plumage at any rate they approach a surface-feeding Duck 
found in South America (Heteronetta atricapilla), ‘The general resem- 
blance in form of diving Ducks goes, no doubt, witn the habit of 
diving—a habit which may be acquired, as I shall later have occasion to 
mention, by the surface-feeders. The Whistlers are also almost as much 
divers as Pochards are, 
