153 



SUBKIKGDOM VEHTBBKATA. 



Mg. 250. 



secures by straining through its lam'ellse.* Its phimage is a 



deiep scarlet on the back, 

 an i roseate on the wings. 

 It builds a hillock of mud 

 as high as its body, and 

 on the top makes its nest 

 and lays its eggs, its long 

 legs hanging dovn on 

 each side. 

 Anatidae. — The Ducks 

 t hav4 the legs short, with 

 the hind toe separate, and 

 the pill covered with soft, 

 senskive skin, and highly 

 lamifellated, to filter the 

 ooz4 in which they feed. 



Plmnicoptiru8ruber,V\a.mmgo. ^. rp|jgy ^re cloSC-feathered, 



and keep the plumage well oiled, so as to dive without get- 

 ting wet. 



The Swan's] neck, 

 unlike the Flamin- 

 go's, is in no propor- 

 tion to the length of 

 its legs, but is adapt- 

 ed to a swimmer 

 that never dives, yet 

 feeds upon aquatic 

 roots. The stroke 

 of its wing is power- 

 ful enough to frac- 



Flg. 257. 



Cygnus bueeinator^X Trumpeter Swan, 



* Its tongue is very fleshy, and, during tlie days of Eome'e extravagance, her 

 gluttons were wont to parade a dish composed of flamingoes' tongues. 



t The two species of Swans in America are easily distinguished, the Cygmis buc- 

 Hnator not having the orange or yellowish spot in front of the eye which is so char- 

 acteristic of C. americanus. 



X The voice of '.'. buccinator is remarkably raucous in comparison with that of 

 C. am£ncanus, though each has the convolution of the trachea in the keel of the 

 sternum, like that of the whooping-crane. 



