288 MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTIONS TO THE [Chap. VLT. 



Egyptian goose (Chenalopex) the beak closely resembles 

 that of the common duck ; but the lamellae are not so 

 numerous, nor so distinct from each other, nor do they 

 project so much inwards ; yet this goose, as I am informed 

 by Mr. E. Bartlett, " uses its bill like a duck by throwing 

 the water out at the corners." Its chief food, however, 

 is grass, which it crops like the common goose. In 

 this latter bird, the lamellae of the upper mandible are 

 much coarser than in the common duck, almost confluent, 

 about 27 in number on each side, and terminating 

 upwards in teeth-like knobs. The palate is also covered 

 with hard rounded knobs. The edges of the lower 

 mandible are serrated with teeth much more prominent, 

 coarser, and sharper than in the duck. The common 

 goose does not sift the water, but uses its beak exclu- 

 sively for tearing or cutting herbage, for which purpose 

 it is so well fitted, that it can crop grass closer than 

 almost any other animal. There are other species of 

 geese, as I hear from Mr. Bartlett, in which the lamellae 

 are less developed than in the common goose. 



We thus see that a member of the duck family, with 

 a beak constructed like that of the common goose and 

 adapted solely for grazing, or even a member with a beak 

 having less well-developed lamellae, might be converted 

 by small changes into a species like the Egyptian goose, 

 — this into one like the common duck, — and, lastly, into 

 one like the shoveller, provided with a beak almost 

 exclusively adapted for sifting the water ; for this bird 

 could hardly use any part of its beak, except the hooked 

 tip, for seizing or tearing solid food. The beak of a goose, 

 as I may add, might also be converted by small changes 

 into one provided with prominent, recurved teeth, like 

 those of the Merganser (a member of the same family), 



