DUCKS. 99 



and from tne structure and sensibility of the edges 

 of these members, they are calculated to separate 

 the nourishing particles from the mud, sand, or 

 herbage, and to seek their food in the dark. The 

 legs are placed nearly under the centre of the body, 

 and consequently the greater number of the species 

 walk freely; and the feet, though they are amply 

 webbed, have the membrane lining the hallux either 

 narrow or entirely wanting. We shall place first 

 in this sub-family, not as typical of it, but as ap- 

 payrjntly. some what allied to the true geese, and on 

 oiio side leading from them, the sheldrakes, of which 

 we possess two very beautiful examples, one of them, 

 during the breeding season, common everywhere 

 around our shores. Before giving the characters, 

 we must, however, shortly notice an American and 

 Asiatic form which is beginning to creep into our 

 lists, and which would lead from the tree geese 

 (Dendrocygnus) mentioned in the description of the 

 spar- winged Egyptian goose. This is the genus Den- 

 dronessa, of which the beautiful summer or wood- 

 duck of North America is the most familiar example, 

 while another inhabiting the waters of China may 

 now soon become as plentiful in our collections. 

 A pair of these birds were shot some years since 

 near Dorking in Surrey, * but we have no reason to 

 believe that they were really accidental wanderers > 

 many specimens are kept on artificial waters, and 

 as in the instances of the Egyptian geese, they hav 

 most probably escaped. The species seems easily 

 * Jenyns. 



