WITH THE HIND TOE PLAIN. 325 



The whole race appear to be more exclusively dabblers 

 than either the geese or the swans ; and though some of them 

 pick up their food from the humid earth as well as out of the 

 water and the weed, they live more upon animal and less 

 upon vegetable matter than the geese, or even than the 

 swans. Their bills are in general more flattened and broad 

 at the tip, more pectinated or toothed at the margins, and 

 perhaps more sensitive in the covering membrane. They are 

 all, in general, of richer plumage than the geese and swans, 

 and the males have generally some external distinction from 

 the females, such as larger size, brighter colours, or some of 

 the feathers peculiarly shaped. One character in the plu- 

 mage of the whole, or nearly the whole, is a patch upon the 

 secondary quills, of different colours in the different species, 

 but with a sort of metallic lustre ; and thence called the 

 "speculum," and also the "wing spot," or the "beauty 

 spot." 



There are also two distinct formations of the foot, which 

 are worthy of attention, as they point out some difference of 

 haunt and habit, and are also accompanied by other differ- 

 ences of formation. The obvious distinctions of the feet are 

 those that have the hinder toe plain, and those that have it 

 bordered with a deep membranous web extending partially 

 to the inner toe. 



WITH THE HIND TOE PLAIN. 



Those which have that character, have the foot also 

 smaller, the web of the toes not so much produced, but the 

 tarsus longer, and the feet placed farther forward, so as better 

 to support the centre of gravity in walking. They also have 

 the neck longer ; the bill not so much widened towards the 

 tip, the wings longer, the tail less stiff, and the trachea fur- 

 nished with a labyrinth of bone. They are more birds of 

 the fresh waters, lakes, the rivers, and the estuaries, find the 



