FULIGULIN^E. 



WHAT we have now endeavoured to describe, con- 

 stitute all the members of the Anatince or River 

 Ducks which have been met with in our islands. 

 We have next to examine the truly Aquatic or Sea 

 Ducks, indicated as a sub-family by the appellation 

 in our title ; they are almost all entirely maritime in 

 their habits, almost living on the sea, procuring all 

 their food, which consists chiefly of fishes, by diving; 

 they are all extremely shy and wary ; a few genera 

 retire to the brooks and fresh-water lakes to breed, 

 and sometimes select a hollow tree for a nestling- 

 place, such as Fuligula, Clangula &c., and these also 

 in severe winters ascend rivers, where, in Britain, 

 they find abundance of food in the young or smaller 

 salmonidaB and cyprinidas, or on the shallow streams 

 where the spawn has been deposited. They are 

 subject to periodical change of plumage, in finest 

 perfection during spring ; but the changes have not 

 been so well ascertained as in the members of the 

 last sub-family. 



FULIGULA, Ray. Generic characters. Bill of 

 middle length, broad, depressed towards the 

 point, where it is rounded and slightly dilated ; 

 laminse broad, concealed by the deflected edges 

 of the maxilla; nostrils basal, oblong, rather 



