ORDER PALMIPEDES. GOl 



part, and iinder-part of the body and wings are 

 white.* 



Black-hacked Sivan. An. Melanotos, Enl. 937- Ipe~ 

 cati apoa, Marcg. Vieill. 285. Plectrophones 

 Melanotus^ Steph. Greenish black above ; white un- 

 derneath ; head and half the neck white, with black 

 spots, and the feathers ruffled. Africa Mus. Brit. 

 India, Gen. Hardwickc. Zool. Ind. t. 217- Nat. 

 Misc. t. 421. The female has the crest smaller. 



The Geese. Anser, Briss. 



Have a moderate or short bill, narrower before than 

 behind, and higher than wide at its base ; their legs 

 are more elevated than in the ducks, and nearly to 

 the middle of the body ; hence they walk better. 

 Many subsist on herbs and grains. They have no 

 enlargement at the base of the trachea, which in the 

 known species does not form any fold. 



The Geese^ properly so called. 



Have the bill as long as the head ; the ends of the 

 laminae fringe the edge of it, and appear there like 

 pointed teetli. 



The Common Goose. An. Anser. L. 



Which has assumed all sorts of colours in domestica- 

 tion, comes from a wild species, which is grey, 



* Buffon has confounded this with a variety of the Egyptian duck, 

 Enl. 982. Latham's figure is defective, by showing only one spur; nor 

 is the protuberance prominent. 



