

174 AVES. 



An. anser, L. (The Common Goose), which has acquired all sorts of colours 

 in our poultry-yards, originates from a wild species that is grey, with a 

 brown mantle undulated with grey and an orange-coloured beak, the Ans. 

 cinereus, Meyer. 



An. hyperborea, Gm. (The Snow-Goose.) White? feet and bill red; tips 

 of the wing-quills black. It sometimes wanders into the temperate parts of 

 Europe during the prevalence of heavy gales in winter. The young bird 

 is more or less grey. 



BEHNACLES 



Are distinguished from the Common Geese by a shorter and slenderer 

 bill, the edges of which conceal the extremities of the laminae. 



An. bernicla, Gm. (The Brant.) The head, neck, and quills of the wings 

 are black, the mantle a brown-grey; a spot on each side of the upper part 

 of the neck, and the under part of the tail, white; the bill black and feet 

 brown. 



An. segyptiaca, Gm. (The Egyptian Goose), remarkable for the lustre of 

 its colours and the small spur attached to its wings, also belongs to this sub- 

 genus; it is sometimes domesticated, but always retains a propensity to re- 

 turn to its wild state. It is the Chenalopex or Fox-Goose, held in veneration 

 among the ancient Eyptians on account of its attachment to its young. 



ANAS, Meyer. 



Ducks, properly so called, have the bill broader at base than it is high, 

 and wider at the end than towards the head; the nostrils nearer to its back 

 and base. Their legs being shorter than those of Geese, and placed farther 

 back, renders walking more difficult to them than to the latter. 



The species of the first division, or those whose thumb is bordered with 

 a membrane, have a larger head, a shorter neck, the feet placed farther 

 back, smaller wings, a stiffer tail, more compressed tarsi, longer toes, and 

 the membrane of the feet more entire. They walk with more difficulty, 

 feed more exclusively on fish and insects, and dive more frequently. 



Ducks are now distributed into various subgenera: such as Oidemia (the 

 Scoter, Velvet Duck, Black Duck) ; Clangula (Long tailed Duck); Soma- 

 teria (Eider Duck); Fuligula (Red-head, Pochard Duck, Tufted Duck); 

 Rhynchaspis (The Shoveller); and Tadorna (The Shieldrake, Muscovy 

 Duck), originally from South America where it perches on trees, and the 

 Jin. boschas, L. (or Mallard), the stock of our common tame Duck, Teal, &c. 



MERGUS, Lin. 



The genus of the Mergansers comprehends those species in which the bill, 

 thinner and more cylindrical than that of the Ducks, is armed along its 

 edges with small pointed teeth resembling those of a saw and directed 

 backwards; the tip of the upper mandible is hooked. Their carriage and 

 even plumage are those of Ducks, properly so called; but their gizzard is 

 less muscular. The inflation of the lower larynx in the males is enormous, 



