CHAPTER II. 

 DUCKS, GEESE, SWANS, AND PELICANS. 



WiLLOUGHBY distributes the Palmipedes into such as have the 

 back toe, and those in which it is absent ; the former, again, into 

 such as have the four toes webbed together, and such as have the 

 back toe separated from the others. These latter he again subdi- 

 vides into narrow-billed and broad-billed ; the former having 

 their bills either hooked at the end or straight and sharp- pointed. 

 The hook-billed have them either even or toothed on the sides. 

 Those which have them straight or sharp-pointed are either short- 

 winged and divers — such as Doukers and Loons — or long-winged, 

 such as Gulls. The broad-billed are divided into Ducks and 

 Geese. The Ducks are either Sea or Pond Ducks. " The Ducks," 

 he adds, " have shorter necks and larger feet, in proportion to 

 their bodies, than Geese. Howbeit, the biggest in this kind do 

 equal, if not exceed, the least in that. The}^ have shorter legs 

 than Geese, and situated more backward, so that they go waddling ; 

 a broader and flatter back, and so a more compressed body ; and, 

 lastly, a broader and flatter bill. Their tongue is pectinated, or 

 toothed, on each side, which is common with them and the 

 Geese." 



" The Ducks are of two sorts, either wild or tame. The wild, 

 agaia, are of two sorts : — -1, Sea Ducks, which feed mostwhat in 

 salt waters, dive much ia feeding, have a broader biU (especially 

 the upper one), and bending forward to work on the stem ; a large 

 hiud toe, and then, likely for a rudder, a long train, not sharp- 

 pointed. 2, Pond Ducks, which haunt plashes, have a straight 

 and narrower biU, a very little hind toe, a sharp-poiuted train, a 



