10 i 



AN AS TOM US. 



the fresh waters only or chiefly ; and do not launch 

 themselves on the broad lakes, but keep near the 

 shores and in the shallows, very seldom feeding 

 with the whole body under water. Their food is 

 miscellaneous, and resembles in its nature that ol 

 poultry, though some of it is more aquatic than poul- 

 try can naturally reach. They feed upon farinaceous 

 vegetable matters, as well as upon small animals, the 

 peculiar structure of their organs giving them suf- 

 ficient digestive powers. The use of the bony en- 

 largement of the trachea is not very well known, 

 neither is that of the cartilaginous convolutions in 

 those of the cranes, the swans, and the semipalrnated 

 goose. It seems, however, to be in some way con- 

 nected with the habit of eating the food with the head 

 and interior part of the body immersed in water. 



The haunts and habits in feeding render it neces- 

 sary that they should be much on the wing, not only 

 on their migrations from place to place, but from one 

 part of the shore or shallow to another: hence the 

 length of the wings, and the depth of keel on the 

 sternum, for giving insertion to the powerful pectoral 

 muscles by which these are moved. 



The leading species which belong to this first sec- 

 tion are the sheldrake, the Muscovy duck, the com- 

 mon wild duck, the gad wall, the shoveller, the pintail 

 du.c'k, the widgeon, the bimaeulated duck, the gargany 

 teal, and the common teal, all of which, as well as 

 the other species .named in this article, will be de- 

 scribed under the article DUCK. 



The intermediate species, which partake more or 

 less of the characters of both sections, are the eider, 

 the king eider, the velvet scoter, and the scoter. These 

 are all., to a certain extent, sea ducks, rarely coming 

 to the fresh waters ; but they have no very clear 

 distinguishing characters. The eiders rather more 

 resemble the first division and the scoters the 

 second. The eiders are stationary in their haunts, but 

 they make considerable use of the wing in their daily 

 excursions . the scoters dive more, and have altogether 

 more of the habits of the second section. 



The external characters of the second section are, 

 the neck short and not adapted for dabbling in the 

 same depth of water as that of the others ; the wings 

 are shorter, reaching only to the root of the tail, 

 while those of the first section reach nearly or alto- 

 gether to the tip. The tail also is close and stiff'. 

 The tarsi are much shorter and more slender in pro- 

 portion ; they are compressed laterally, placed far 

 back, wide of each other, and have a sort of rolling 

 articulation to the tibia;. The toes are larger in pro- 

 portion and the webs more complete ; the hind toe 

 }s lobed, and the lobe is continued to the inner toe in 

 a rnargiu or web of greater or less breadth. 



In the internal structure, the sternum has a much 

 lower ke.el, but extends farther backwards ; and toward 

 the end of the section, where the genus may be said 

 to border with the most duck-like of the true divers, 

 the central portion backwards is produced in an ensi- 

 form process. The ribs also extend much farther 

 backwards, so that the portion of the abdomen which 

 has no support of bone is much smaller. The en- 

 Jargement of the bronchial end of the trachea is a 

 membranous sac, supported upon fibres of bone. 

 The gullet is much more dilatable than m the first sec- 

 tion, so as to admit of the swallowing of food in much 

 larger portions ; the stomach is still muscular, al- 

 though perhaps not so completely a gizzard as in the 

 uthers ; the intestines are shorter, and porportionally 



of larger diameter, and the caecal appendages are 

 much shorter. 



These differences, both of external appearance 

 and of internal structure, point at different habits, 

 which observation proves to be the same as theory 

 would lead us to conclude. 



They do not frequent the fresh waters, unless it be 

 the deeper portions of the large lakes, neither do they 

 dabble in the shallows, or pick up their food upon the 

 shores. They feed much less upon vegetable matter, 

 and more upon fish, which they catch by diving ; but 

 they also feed upon molluscous and other small aqua- 

 tic animals. 



Their modes of life are more adventurous, and they 

 can contend better with the troubled waters. They 

 swim beautifully, dive readily, remain for a consider- 

 able time under water, and shoot along with so much 

 ease and rapidity there, that one is surprised at the 

 distance from the place of their descent at which they 

 again come to the surface. Most of them are com- 

 pact in their forms, and beautiful in the closeness, 

 gloss, and colours of their plumage. One remarkable 

 coincidence between them and the divers is, the pos- 

 session of crests, more or less produced, and inclining 

 backwards from the top of the head. In this also 

 they have a resemblance to the herons, and many of 

 the cranes ; to most birds, indeed, which seize large 

 prey in the water by a forward stroke of the head. 

 The crest appears to answer a purpose similar to that 

 of the feather of an arrow, or the long tail of a spring- 

 ing beast of prey it keeps the head steady to its line. 



The leading species in their order are, the red- 

 crested, the pochard, the ferruginous, the scaup, the 

 tufted, the harlequin, the long-tailed, and the goldeu- 

 eye ; the first having many of the characters of the 

 velvet scoter, and the last a very considerable re- 

 semblance to the mergansers, which live almost 

 exclusively by catching fish with their serrated bills. 



ANASTOMUS (open-bills). A genus of birds 

 belonging to the order of Grall'idce or waders ; though 

 in this and many other of the genera, Cuvier's Echas- 

 sicrs, or "stilt birds," is, on account of the length of 

 the legs, and the birds not wading, rather more 

 appropriate. The genus in question belongs to the 

 natural family of the Gi-uidce or cranes, and to the 

 branch stork ; and in their liabits they do not differ 

 much from the true storks, only that they are more 

 shy and do not come so close or so habitually to the 

 habitations of man. The chief difference between 

 them and the storks, and the one upon which chiefly 

 they have been made a separate genus, is the form of 

 the bill, especially of the tomia, or cutting edges of 

 the mandibles. In most of the tribe, whether the 

 outline of these be straight or curved, they generally 

 close for the greater part of their length ; but in the 

 Anastomus, they touch only at the .base and the tip, 

 and have a considerable opening at the middle. The 

 basal part of the upper mandible is, however, wider 

 than that of the under, and when the two are lapped 

 over each other there, the tomia at the middle come 

 very nearly into contact. It should seem, therefore, 

 that this form of bill, though rather ungainly in ap- 

 pearance, is by no means inefficient in use. The tips 

 are seizing forceps, the basal portions act like scis- 

 sors, and the middle like cutting nippers. Like most 

 of the family they are migratory birds, found in India, 

 and also in Eastern Africa, and probably pass seasonally 

 from the one of these localities to the other. One is 

 described as being white except the quills and tail 



