330 
which is longer, and bent downwards, 
this variety we are assured is by no means 
uncommon in some parts of this country. 
There is also another variety with divided 
toes, not connected with a web. These 
like the preceding are merely kept through 
curiosity. 
The male of this species is subject to a 
similar change of plumage as we before 
noticed in the Pintail, &c. 
The Wild Duck is an inhabitant of Eu- 
rope, Asia, and America, 
That our tame Duck derives its origin 
from this species, there cannot be a doubt 
in the mind of any person who has exa- 
mined the formation of the trachea and 
" what (as Montagu observes) Professer 
Gmelin can have discovered in the Domes- 
tic Duck to have induced him to separate it 
from Anas hoschas we cannot conceive. 
There is not the most trifling difference in 
the structure of the trachea and its laby- 
rinth : the number of feathers in the tail, 
and the singular recurviture of the middle 
ones, are similar; they readily mix, and 
their produce are equally fertile, a cireum- 
