266 



AVES. 



Some have the tail pointed. 



The Pintail Duck {A. acuta).— [X common winter visitant in Britain, highly esteemed for the table ; the male 

 with a white mark down each side of the neck, meeting behind. It forms, with another, the needless division 

 Dafda of Leach.] 



In otliers, the middle tail-feathers are more or less cm-led upwards ; as, 



The Common or Mallard Duck (A. boschas, Lin.); known by its orani^e feet, gi:eenish-yellow bill, the fine 

 changeable green of its neck, separated from the dark maronne colour of its breast by a white ring, &c. In our 

 poultry-yards, it varies like other domestic animals. The wild bird, common in our marshes, nestles among the 

 rushes, in old trunks of willows, find sometimes upon trees. Its trachea terminates below with a great osseous 

 capsule. 



Some of them have a crested head, and a bill rather narrower anteriorly, and which, though foreign, 

 are now raised in all our aviaries. [They have smaller feet, perch readily on trees, and surpass all 

 the rest of the tribe in the splendour of their colours. They constitute the Dendronessa, Swainson]. 



Such is the Mandarin Duck (A. galericulata) of China, and the Summer Duck (A. sponsa) of North America. 

 Their capsules are rounded, and of moderate size. 



Other exotic species conjoin to the l)ill of the Ducks, legs which are even longer than those of the 

 Geese : they perch and nestle upon trees. 



[Tliese are the long-legged Whistling Ducks of the West Indies, which pertain to the major division of Shiel- 

 drakes, and form the subgenus Dendrocygnus.] One of the number has even seniipalmated toes. 



Lastly, among those which have no particular characteristic, the following visit our shores during 

 the winter. 



TheGadwall T)\\c\i {A. strepera, Lin.), mostly of a lineated grey colour, with some rufous on the wings; the 

 Widgeon (A. penelopc, Lin.) ; grey, with a vinaceous breast, and rufous head and neck, the forehead and along 

 the top of the head yehowish-white ; the Teal (A. crecca), with a rufous head, marked with green on each side, 

 and a spotted breast ; and the Gargany (A. querqtierdula and circia), with a white stripe behind the eye. [In 

 addition to these, two stragglers have been found in Britain, the Bimaculated Duck, {A. giocitaiu,) from Asia, 

 allied to the Teal, but larger, with a brown head, having two large glossy green spots on each side; and the 

 American Widgeon, with a Teal-like green stripe on the sides of the head (a trace of which is sometimes met with 

 in the common Widgeon), no rufous on the head, a narrower bill, and smaller tracheal capsule. In all these the 

 females have lineated brown plumage, which is characteristic of the true double-moulting Bucks with unlobated 

 hind-toe, and the males are finely rayed across. The habits of all are nearly smiilar to those of the common 

 species.] 



The genus of 



The Mergansers {Mergus, Lin.) — 

 Comprises species, the bill of which, much more slender and cylindrical than in any of the foregoing, 

 has each mandible armed throughout its length with small pointed teeth 

 like those of a saw, directed backwards, [and which are merely modifica- 

 tions of the ordinary lamellaj] ; the tip of the upper mandible is hooked. 

 Their port and even their plumage are the same as in the Ducks, properly 

 so called ; but their gizzard is less muscular, and the intestines and cceca 

 are shorter, [though less so than in the Scoters and Eiders. They have a 

 lohated hind-toe, and the plumage is moulted in autumn only, the (;olours 

 of the male undergoing an extraordinary amount of change towards mid- 

 summer. They do not acquire their adult dress until the second general 

 renewal of the /feathers]. The labyrinth at the inferior laryn.\ of the 

 males is enormous, and in part membranous [resembling that of the other 

 Ducks with lohated hind-toe] ; and they live on lakes and ponds, where 

 they are very destructive to fish, breeding in similar situations to the 

 common Duck. 



[Of five species, four are met with in the British Isles, three of them commonly 

 during the winter. All are beautiful birds, at least the males in breeding dress. 

 They are — the Great Merganser (it/, merganser and castor), as large as a Shieldrake, 

 with green head and neck, and short bushy crest, the body white, more or less 

 deeply suffused with saflfron, with a blackish mantle, coral bill, and or.inge legs, 

 — the male ; and female rufous-brown, white beneath, with a slender and much 

 longer crest ; which retires further north to breed : the Bay-breasted M. (M. si-r- 

 rator), size of a Mallard, with a rufous brown breast, spotted m ith blackish, a green- 

 black head and neck, surmounted with a long thin crest, white ring round the 

 neck, and elegant bordered shoulder-tufts ; female very like the last ; which breeds on our northern lakes ; and 



Fig. 132. — Sternum of MerRansf 



