PREFA CE. XI 



Arctic regions, the Author has relied upon the naturalists 

 who have had opportunities of observing them in those 

 distant localities. The position and names of the feathers 

 of the Wild Fowl do not differ from those of other birds, 

 and they can readily be ascertained from the plate given 

 in the " Shore Birds '' which serves the purpose of an ex- 

 planatory map. The drawings of a considerable number 

 of the species were made by the Author at a time when he 

 was contemplating another work on the Water Fowl, and 

 these have been reduced by Mr. Edwin Sheppard to the 

 proper dimensions for this book. Four are reduced 

 copies of paintings made by the great artist Joseph Wolf, 

 for the Author's work on the " Birds of North America." 

 The remainder of the plates have been drawn by Mr. 

 Sheppard, who illustrated the two previous books of this 

 series, and these exhibit the same care and fidelity in 

 their execution as characterize the plates in those 

 volumes. 



For the loan of specimens from which the drawings 

 by Mr. Sheppard have been made, I am indebted to my 

 friends Mr.. R. Ridgway, Curator of Birds in the 

 National Museum, Washington, and Mr. Witmer Stone, 

 Curator of Ornithology in the Academy of Natural 

 Sciences of Philadelphia, to whom I desire to express my 

 thanks for their assistance. 



In classifying the various groups of the Anatidae it is 

 of slight moment whether one begins with the so-called 

 highest or lowest form, naturalists having not yet agreed 

 upon this point, although it would seem advisable in the 

 construction of a pyramid to begin at the bottom and not 

 at the top. In the arrangement of the genera and 

 species in this book, however, I have reversed the order 

 in the Check List of the American Ornithologists' I'nion, 

 because I desired to begin with the most important 



