292 



A ^/ES— ORDER ANSERIFORMES. 



The Geese and 

 Ducks. — Sub- 

 order Anseres. 



fabric placed among the low rushes and water-lilies, and ia sometimes seen 

 floating on the water, away from its moorings. The eggs are five, pointed at 

 one end, pure white, and in size like the eggs of the domestic Goose. The 

 young are clothed in yellow down like Goslings, and follow the parents about 

 from the date of hatching." 



Mr. Lydekker, when in Argentina, found the Screamer nesting on a 

 lagoon, and saw the parent birds swimming about amongst the Ducks. 

 On his approach they fled to the banks, but soon returned to the water. 

 They had evidently young birds on the lagoon. This aquatic feature in the 

 Screamers is of the highest interest, as confirming the anserine affinities 

 which their anatomy demonstrates. 



These well-known birds are easily recognised by their external characters, 



their semi-flattened bills, shortish legs, and fully-webbed 



feet distinguishing them from the Screamers and 



Flamingoes, while, like the latter birds, th' y have 



uncinated processes to the ribs. Count Salvadori, who 



has recently monographed the sub-order Anseres in the 



"Catalogue" of the Birds in the British Museum, divides it into no less than 



eleven sub-families belonging to the single family Anatidce. To these we 



can only refer in passing. 



The Swans qre such well-known birds that very little description of them 

 is necessary. Among the Duck tribe they are easily recognisable by their 

 abnormally developed neck, which equals, or even exceeds, 

 the body of the bird in length. There is no lobe to the 

 hind toe, a feature which allies the Swans to the Geese, 

 but separates thein from the majority of the Ducks. 

 There are three genera of Swans, viz., Cygniis, containing 

 the Swans with which we are most familiar ; Chenopis, the Black Swan of 

 Australia, with ornamental scapulars and inner secondaries ; and Coscoroba, 

 the Chilian Swan, which has feathered lobes, and is as much a Goose in 

 appearance as it is a Swan in reality. 



The Blute Swan is the fa.miliar species which swims about on our rivers 

 and lakes. In most parts of the British Islands the Swan may be regarded 



as a semi domesticated bird, 



The Swans.— 

 Sub-family 



C'Ugnhtce. 



Fig. 50.— TiiK MuTB Swan (Cygnus olor). 



but in many places on the 

 Continent it is an absolutely 

 wild species. It is to this 

 Swan that the Polish Swan 

 {Cygnus immuiahilU), with its 

 white cygnets, must be re- 

 ferred, as Count Salvador!, 

 and all the best of recent 

 observers, consider it to be 

 only a domestic variety of 

 the Mute Swan. Other well- 

 known species of Cygmis are 

 the Whooper (G. musUni'S) 

 and Bewick's Swan (C. 

 hen^icla'), the latter bird 



nesting in Arctic Europe, where it makes a large nest composed entirely of 

 moss. It visits us in some numbers during the winter months. These 

 British species of Swans are distinguished by the size and the colour of their 



