378 BRITISH BIRDS. 



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THE bill is strong, straight, and pointed: the 

 upper mandible longest; the edges of each bending 

 inwards : nostrils linear, the upper part divided 

 by a small cutaneous appendage: tongue long, 

 pointed, and serrated on each side near the base: 

 thighs placed far backward : legs thin and flat, and 

 extended horizontally: toes four in number; the 

 exterior the longest; the back one small, and 

 joined to the interior by a thin membrane: tail 

 short, consisting of twenty feathers. These birds 

 are broad, flat, and long-bodied, and swim in 

 a squat position on the water. Ornithologists 

 formerly enumerated eight species of this genus, 

 six of which, besides some doubtful varieties, were 

 said to frequent the British shores. Subsequent 

 observation, however, has reduced this list to 

 three. 



