412 



cesses are represented by oval facets, articulating with the pterygoids 

 close to the anterior extremity of the latter, as in Galling. The 

 angle or posterior extremity of the lower jaw is produced back- 

 wards beyond the articulation with the quadrate, and is curved 

 upwards. Nostrils pervious. Furcula U-shaped; posterior border 

 of sternum with a notch, represented in some genera by a foramen, 

 on each side of the keel. Two carotids ; caeca large ; oil-gland 

 tufted. Wing aquincubital ; primaries 11 ; aftershaft to body- 

 feathers rudimentary or wanting ; no bare spaces on the neck. 

 Ambieus muscle present, as also the f em oro- caudal, accessory 

 femoro-caudal (very large), and trie semitendinosus ; accessory 

 semitendinosus absent, as in most swimming-birds. The flexor 

 longus hallucis sends oil a slip to the hallux, and then fuses with 

 the flexor perforans diyitorum, which supplies the three anterior 

 digits. Tongue large and fleshy, denticulated laterally to corre- 

 spond with the Iamella3 of the mandibles. Males with a large 

 spiral intromittent organ. All the species are monogamous, and 

 the majority build nests of grass or rushes on the ground, a few 

 on trees or in holes. In cold climates the female lines her nest 

 with her own down, and surrounds with the same the eggs, which 

 are numerous, and white, cream-coloured, buff, or pale green 

 in colour; but in warmer countries, as in India, less precaution for 

 retention of heat is necessary, and the downy lining is imperfect 

 or wanting. The young are hatched covered with down, and able 

 to run or swim at once. In moulting, most, if not ail, of the 

 members of this order shed all their quill-feathers at once, and are 

 consequently, for a time, unable to fly. 

 There is but a single family. 



Family ANATID^E. 



The division of this family into subfamilies is by no means 

 a simple problem, there are almost as many systems as there are 

 writers on the subject. Salvador!, in the British Museum Catalogue, 

 from which many of the details here given are copied, admits 

 eleven subfamilies, four of which are not Indian ; other writers 

 adopt smaller numbers. The characters on which these sub- 

 families are divided are often of small importance, and appear 

 to me insufficient in some cases. One subfamily containing the 

 Swans is well distinguished by the great number of cervical 

 vertebrae, exceeding those in any other vertebrates. The true 

 Greese appear also fairly separated by their plumnge and by the 

 structure of the trachea in the male. Lastly, the Smew and 

 the Merganser may be easily recognized by their subconical or 

 compressed bills, even if, for the want of other well-marked 

 structural distinctions, their claim to separation as a subfamily is 

 somewhat weak. Four subfamilies are consequently here admitted, 

 thus distinguished : 



