FRESH WATER AND OCEANIC DUCKS. 107 



wigeon (anas penelope), the pintail duck (anas 

 acuta\ the pochard or dun bird (fuligula ferind), 

 the scaup duck (fuligula marila), the tufted duck 

 (fuligula cristata), and the golden eye (clangula 

 vulgaris). The four first of these belong to the 

 more typical division of the ducks : their habits 

 are to a certain degree terrestrial ; they are more 

 partial to fresh than to salt water; their food, 

 besides aquatic insects and worms, is frequently 

 of a vegetable nature, and usually obtained near 

 the surface beneath which they seldom dive, 

 except when wounded or pursued while their 

 powers of flight are very great. In conformity 

 with these habits is their general structure ; the 

 legs are smaller, more rounded or less compressed 

 laterally than among the marine ducks, and 

 placed nearer the centre of the body ; their necks 

 and wings are longer; the keel of the breast 

 bone is deeper; while the stomach approaches 

 more nearly to the nature of a gizzard, as in 

 granivorous birds. The other four species belong 

 to the oceanic division. They are more decidedly 

 aquatic, and prefer the sea to either lakes or 

 rivers, except when driven in by severity of 

 weather. Their food consists almost entirely of 

 fish and marine insects, and the stomach accord- 

 ingly is softer and thinner than with their her- 

 bivorous congeners. Their legs are short, com- 



