. BIRDS. 83 



blance which subsists between it, the Cape snipe {Scolopax 

 Capensii, GnTelin), and other species by svhich the genus is 

 at present constituted. 



We have now arrived at the last great division of the 

 class of birds, viz. the Palmipedes, or web- footed order. We 

 formerly observed in our sketches of African Zoology,* that 

 these tribes are of wandering habits, and that being pos- 

 sessed, in addition .to great power of wing, of the faculty of 

 resting on the water, we can scarcely place any limits to 

 the extent of their migratory movements. They thus be- 

 come more cosmopolite than many of the other groups, and 

 are therefore less entitled to our attention during an exposi- 

 tion of the peculiar and more characteristic features of a 

 particular country. For this reason a briefer notice will suf- 

 fice. In truth, we have been already induced, by the over- 

 flowing riches of Indian ornithology, to extend and multiply 

 our notices of many genera beyond such limits as are con- 

 sistent with a due and proportional consideration of the 

 remaining classes of the animal kingdom. We must there- 

 fore present our future observations with greater bre\'ity. 



The pearly-plumaged gulls and buoyant terns are found 

 along the Indian shores, as elsewhere. Of the latter tribe 

 we shall specify only a single example, that of the black- 

 bellied tern (Sterna Melauogaster, Temminckt), of which 

 the head, abdomen, and inferior coverts of the wings are 

 black, while the cheeks, throat, wings, and tail are of a deli- 

 cate ash-colour. It inhabits Ceylon and continental India. 



Among the Indian AnatidcB may be mentioned the black- 

 backed goose {Anser melanotosX), which measures nearly three 

 feet in length. The head and half of the neck are white, 

 spotted and streaked with black ; the rest of the neck and the 

 under parts of the plumage are white, with a tinge of gray 

 upon the sides ; the back, wings, and tail are black, glossed 

 with green and purplish reflections, for which reason it was 

 named Voie bronzee by Buffon. It is common in Ceylon, 

 and also occurs both along the Coromandel coast and on the 

 shores of the Ganges. The -barred-headed goose {Anser 

 Jndica) occurs in the southern and central parts of Hindostan 



* Family Library-, No. 16. • | Planches Col., 434. 



J Zool. lad., xxi. plate 11. 



