INTEODTICTION. 



'S 



Goose, are Land Birds — at least during their breeding-season, 

 and they breed on the ground. 



The Ducks— for which the Wild Du.ck or Mallard (Anas 

 hoscas) may be ' taken as a type — are all so much alike, that the 

 genera into which their numerous species have been grouped 

 present no characters which make it needful for us to deal with 

 them here. They form another cosmopolitan group of broad- 

 billed web-footed Birds. 



Fig. 12. 



The Black-necked Swan (Oygrms nigricollis). 



The Harlequin Duck, which rarely visits us from the North, 

 is a handsome Bird. But there are many yet handsomer, and 

 the brilliant and artificially-marked Mandarin Duck is especially 

 noticeable. 



Of Swdns there are only some eleven species, whereof 

 that " Rara avis " of our Latin grammars, the Black Swan, is 

 Australian, while the White Swan with a black neck, from 

 South America, is a remarkably handsome species. 



The Mergansers constitute a very small group of Water 

 Birds, markedly difEerent from the before noted web-footed ones. 



