292 ANSERES. ANAT1D.E. 



dusk approaches these sounds are gradually re- 

 sumed, at first coming from the ground, as warn- 

 ings that it is time to be alert ; as the darkness 

 and stillness of night sets in, one large flock after 

 another hastens to its feeding-ground, and the 

 various calls and the noise of wings is heard with 

 a clearness which is sufficient to enable the sports- 

 man to mark the kinds and trace his prey to their 

 feeding-stations, to make him aware of their ap- 

 proach long before they come within his reach."* 

 This Order comprises the following six Families, 

 Anatickz, Colymbidce, Alcadce, Procellariad<%, 

 Laridtz, and Pelecanidce. 



FAMILY I. ANATID.E. 



(Ducks.) 



The beak in this great Family is thick, broad, 

 high at the base, covered throughout almost its 

 whole length with a soft skin, the tip alone being 

 horny (the former supposed by some to be analo- 

 gous to the cere, and the small nail-like tip to 

 correspond to what in other birds would be the 

 true horny beak) ; the edges are cut into a number 

 of thin parallel ridges, or small teeth : the tongue 

 is large and fleshy, with its edges toothed. The 

 wings are in general moderately long. The males 

 have, for the most part, the windpipe enlarged, 

 near the point of its division, into a bony chamber, 

 or capsule, differing in form and size ; and some 

 have this tube much prolonged, and bent back in 

 winding folds within the swollen keel of the 

 breast-bone : both of these peculiarities of struc- 



* Nat. Lib. ORNITHOLOGY, iv. 456. 



