ANATID.E. CXXXVI. 227 



Sea birds of tropical regions, the immense wings giving them a 

 power of flight surpassed by no other bird. They live mainly by 

 robbing the terns and gulls, which they watch, often from great 

 heights in the air. The two species range widely in the warm seas. 



348. FREGATA Cuvier. (Ital., frigate.) 



684. F aquila (L.). MAN O' WAR BIRD. Black, the shoulders 

 lustrous in $. L. 40. W. 25. T. 17. B. 4f . Tropical seas, 

 occasional N. (Lat., eagle.) 



ORDER XXXV. AKSERES. (THE DUCKS AND GEESE.) 



Desmognathous swimmers with the basipterygoids more or less 

 developed and the feet not totipalmate ; bill lamellate ; no gular 

 pouch. Feet 4-toed, palmate ; hind toe small, elevated. Legs 

 short. This order (often called Lamellirostres, associated with the 

 Flamingoes, etc., to form the Chenomorphce of Huxley and Stejne- 

 ger) " opens the series of desmognathous birds, which are char- 

 acterized by having the palatal bones united across the middle 

 either directly or by the intermediation of ossifications in the nasal 

 septum." (Stejneger.) 



This familiar order contains nearly all the Water-fowl which are 

 valued in domestication or as game birds. As here understood, 

 the Anseres comprise but a single family, the Phoenicopteridce or 

 Flamingoes, wading birds with a duck's bill, being placed in a 

 distinct order Odontoylossce, by the American Ornithologists' 

 Union. 



FAMILY CXXXVI. ANATID^E. (THE DUCKS.) 



Bill lamellate, i. e., furnished along each cutting edge with a 

 regular series of tooth-like processes, which correspond to certain 

 laciniate processes of the fleshy tongue, which ends in a horny tip ; 

 bill large, thick, high at base, depressed towards the end, mem- 

 branous except at the obtuse tip which is occupied by a horny 

 nail. Body heavy, flattened beneath. Head high, compressed, 

 with sloping forehead ; eyes small. Tail various, usually short, of 

 14 to 16 feathers, the lower coverts being long and full. Legs 

 and feet short ; anterior toes full-webbed. Tibia feathered. Sexes 

 usually quite unlike (excepting among the Swans and Geese). Spe- 

 cies about 175, of all parts of the world ; migratory ; all are good 

 swimmers. 



a. Neck shorter than body; lores feathered. 

 b. Tarsus scutellate in front, shorter than middle toe without claw. Sexes 



unlike. Ducks. 



c. Lower mandible without trace of lamellae along the side, but with a 

 scries of distinct, tooth-like serrations along the upper edge (inner 



