DIOMEDEA. BIRDS. 315 



Gen. 10. DIOMKDEA, Lin. 



Bill very long, stout, edged, compressed, straight, suddenly 

 curved ; upper mandible channelled on the sides, and much 

 hooked at the point, the under smooth and truncated at the 

 extremity ; nostrils lateral, remote from the base, tubular, 

 covered on the sides, and open in front ; legs short, with 

 only three very long toes, entirely webbed ; the lateral one 

 margined; wings very long and narrow, with the primary quills 

 short, and the secondaries long. 



D. exulans, Lin. Wandering Albatross, or Man of War Bird. Plu- 

 mage above brown red, striped and spotted with dusky ; white 

 beneath ; the upper part and sides of the neck transversely striped 

 with brown ; greater quills black ; the lesser and tail dusky lead- 

 coloured ; bill yellowish ; feet reddish brown. 3J to 4 feet long. 

 Inhabits between the Tropics Shaw, xiii. pi. 30. 



These birds are extremely voracious, preying on shoals of salmon.in the mouths of 

 rivers, and on the flying or other fishes, which they swallow whole, and in such quan- 

 tities, as to be occasionally prevented by their weight from rising. They chiefly 

 occur between the tropics. Towards the end of June they migrate in thousands to 

 the coasts of Kamtechatka, the Sea of Ochotsk, &c. The Kamtschadales catch these 

 birds with rude hooks, baited with fish, chiefly for the sake of the bones of the 

 wings, which they convert to various domestic uses. 



D.fuliginosa, Lath. Sooty Albatross or Quaker Bird. General 

 plumage brown ; head, bill, tail, quill-feathers, and claws, sooty 

 brown ; area of the eyes white. 3 feet long. Inhabits Southern 

 Ocean Sharv, xiii. 263. 



Gen. 11. ANAS, Lin. 



Bill middle sized, robust, straight, more or less depressed, cover- 

 ed by a thin skin, often deeper than broad at the base, which is 

 furnished with a fleshy tubercle, or smooth ; always depressed 

 towards the tip, which is obtuse, and furnished with a nail ; 

 edges of both mandibles divided into conical or flat lamellated 

 teeth ; nostrils almost at the surface of the bill, at some dis- 

 tance from the base, ovoid, half closed by the flat membrane 

 that covers the nasal furrow ; legs short, feathered to the knee, 

 and placed near the abdomen ; the three fore toes webbed, the 

 hinder detached, and either destitute of a web, or having only 

 a rudimentary one. 



The birds which compose this numerous family swim with ease and gracefulness, 

 feeding on fish, testacea, insects, vegetables, and grains. Some make use of their 

 long necks to catch, with their submersed bill, the food most suited to their taste, 

 and others dive, and remain a considerable time under water ; a practice to which 

 most of them have recourse when closely pursued. Many of the species are found 

 on fresh, and others on salt water, or on the sea-shore. Their gait is awkward and 

 hobbling. Most of them moult twice a-year, namely, in June and in November, 

 the male only changing the colour of his plumage ; assuming in June a part of 

 that more appropriate to the female, and in November his bridal attire, which he 

 retains till hatching time. The females moultflater than the males. When journey, 

 ing in Lapland, in 1732, Linnaeus observed the river Calix quite covered with birds 



