THE SCOTER. 339 



dull greenish grey. The widgeon is most plentiful in the 

 southern parts of England, and migrates more abundantly 

 to the western shore than some others of the duck tribe, 

 that make their chief appearance with us in the winter. 



WITH THE HIND TOE WEBBED. 



The birds which have a membrane margining the hind 

 toe, are more exclusively aquatic in their habits, and more 

 prone to sea migration, than the species which have that 

 organ plain. They have the legs farther asunder and back- 

 ward, the tarsi shorter, the web larger in proportion, and 

 the feet altogether less adapted for walking, but better for 

 swimming and diving. 



They have other characters which also indicate more of a 

 swimming habit. They have the head thicker, the neck 

 shorter, and both that and the body more fortified with 

 down among the shafts of the feathers ; the enlargement of 

 the trachea membranous ; the wings smaller, rounder, and 

 hollower, and the tail stiffer and more fitted for acting as an 

 organ of ascent and descent when they dive, an operation 

 which they perform more frequently, and to a much greater 

 depth, than any of the former. They consequently can find 

 their food in deeper water ; they more frequent the sea ; 

 belong to more northerly latitudes, and, generally speaking, 

 appear in the greatest numbers in the northern parts of the 

 country, and there chiefly on the shores. Some of them 

 breed in the northern parts, but the greater number appear 

 only as winter visitants. There are about eighteen species 

 of them, belonging to different genera, recognised as British 

 birds. Most of the species, considered as food, are inferior 

 to the birds of the former subdivision. 



SCOTER (Oidemia). 



The birds of this genus are about the size of the common 



z2 



