XVWl INTRODUCTION. 



hook. This is called the nail, whence the Family is 

 sometimes named Unguirostres. (Latin Ungus, nail, 

 and rostrum, beak). 



The Anatin^ and the Galling are probably, to thpse 

 who are not ornithologists, the most familiar of the feath- 

 ered creatures. Like the Gallinaceous birds, the Water 

 Fowl bear a very important relation to man, as they are 

 the source of all domesticated races of web-footed 

 birds, and they provide one of the chief means of sub- 

 sistence to the inhabitants of boreal regions. Among 

 civilized people they are regarded also as of great value 

 from an economic point of view. 



Usually these birds have a stout, full, rather heavy 

 body, with a moderate or short neck (exceedingly long in 

 the Swan), short legs, placed posteriorly in most in- 

 stances, and generally hidden in the body feathers half- 

 way to the heel, with the tarsus covered with scutellate 

 or reticulate scalep, sometimes with both, as in Dendro- 

 cygna; feet palmated, hind toe simple or lobed; oil gland 

 present, and a large and fleshy tongue. Bill various in 

 shape, from broad and flat, which is perhaps most usual, 

 to long and very narrow. Lamellae (plates or toothlike 

 processes inside edge of bill), are frequently present, 

 sometimes exceedingly prominent, numerous, and close 

 together, and vary from those like the teeth of a fine 

 comb suitable for sifting ooze, etc., to a rather coarse 

 hooklike form, pointing backward to prevent the escape 

 of any prey that may have been seized. 



The sternum is broad and rather long, with a notch on 

 each side, and sometimes the keel is hollowed out for the 

 reception of the windpipe. This organ exhibits curious 

 modifications in the various species. In some of the 

 Swan it enters a hollow in the sternum, doubles on itself, 

 forming a coil, and then emerges, passing onward to 



