436 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 



given oroup, whether large or small, provided we neglect analysis. It is a most 

 extraordinary thing that one naturalist, rejecting all theory, and confining himself 

 to facts, should actually have marked out, so far as the British species are con- 

 cerned, their circular succession, totally unconscious of having done so, while 

 another, following theory and overlooking facts, should have produced two com- 

 plete quinarian circles, both of which, if there be any truth in Mr. Yarrell's 

 inferences (from internal structure), or our own researches (directed only to 

 external form and habits), are entirely artificial. — Sw. 



ANATIN^. Swains. 

 Gen. Anas, Dendronessa, Mareca. 



The Anatince feed on soft substances, such as fresh-water insects and tender 

 aquatic plants, which they procure near the surface, or, aided by the length of 

 their necks, at the bottom, in shallow muddy places; and worms and slugs, 

 which they search for among the grass. By day they resort to small lakes and 

 rivers, and in the night retire to the fields. They are strong and swift on the 

 wing, and are watchful birds, that seldom dive to escape pursuit, unless when 

 moulting ; but when disturbed fly away, making at the outset a circle in the air 

 to survey the cause of their alarm. 



Distribution. — Anas clypeata and A. (Dajila) acuta frequent chiefly the clear 

 lakes of the northern districts, and breed in the Barren Grounds, being found 

 in numbers in the more southern woody districts in spring and autumn only. — 

 A. (Boschas) domestica, A. (Chauliodus) strepera, and Mareca Americana, breed in 

 the woody districts up to their most northern limits, in latitude 68°. — A. (Boschas) 

 crecca is abundant to the extremity of the continent, both in the woody and 

 barren districts. — A. (Boschas) discors, though very plentiful on the Saskatchewan, 

 was not observed farther north than the fifty-eighth parallel ; while Dendronessa 

 sponsa seldom goes to the northward of the fifty-fourth degree of latitude, and 

 is rare even to the southward of that parallel. 



* Through the kindness of the Rev. Mr. Booth, of Friskney, in Lincolnshire, I procured the following interesting 

 information respecting some of the Anatidse from an intelligent keeper of a decoy in his neighbourhood: — 



" Skelton is unacquainted with the habits of the Gadwall ; but he tells me that the Widgeon and Pintail do not 

 willingly dive. Of course, if driven to it, they can, but they do not dive for their food, and though in play they some- 

 times splash under water, they never remain beneath the surface like the Pochard. — With respect to food: the Mal- 

 lard, Pintail, and Teal frequent rich flooded lands, ' swittering with their nebs in the soil, and sucking out its strength ;' 

 but the Widgeon feeds quite differently, being ' an amazing fowl to graze, a strange eater of grass.' It is especially 

 fond of ' fluttergrass ' Glyceria aquation vel fiuiians ?), which it crops on the surface, but it likewise eats many other 

 herbs. When the decoy has been so full of Widgeons that they have devoured every blade on the landings, Skelton 

 has taken advantage of their absence in the night, when they resort to the green salt marshes on the sea-coast, and 

 laid down sods pared from the fields, on which they readily graze. In common, however, with the Mallard, Teal, and 

 Pintail, they are fond of willow-weed seeds (Epilobium ?), with which he feeds all the fowl in the decoy, as they prefer 

 it to oats and every other kind of grain." — R. 



