AVES. 
266 
Some have the tail pointed. 
The Pintail Duck (A. acuta). — [A common winter visitant in Britain, highly esteemed for the table ; the male 
with a white mark down each side of the neck, meeting behind. It forms, with another, the needless division 
Dafila of Leach.] 
In otliers, the middle tail-feathers are more or less curled upwards ; as, 
The Common or Mallard Duck (A. boschas, Lin.) ; known by its orange feet, greenish-yellow bill, the fine 
changeable green of its neck, separated from the dark maronne colour of its breast by a white ring, &c. In our 
poultry-yards, it varies like other domestic animals. The wild bird, common in our marshes, nestles among the 
rushes, in old trunks of willows, and sometimes upon trees. Its trachea terminates below with a great osseous 
capsule. 
Some of them have a crested head, and a bill rather narrower anteriorly, and which, though foreign, 
are now raised in all our aviaries. [They have smaller feet, perch readily on trees, and surpass all 
the rest of the tribe in the splendour of their colours. They constitute the Dendronessa, Swainson]. 
Such is the Mandarin Duck {A. galericulata) of China, and the Summer Duck (A. sponsa) of North America. 
Their capsules are rounded, and of moderate size. 
Other exotic species conjoin to the bill of the Ducks, legs which are even longer than those of the 
Geese : they perch and nestle upon trees. 
[These are the long-legged Whistling Ducks of the West Indies, which pertain to the major division of Shiel- 
drakes, and form the subgenus Dendrocygnus.'] One of the number has even semipalmated toes. 
Lastly, among those which have no particular characteristic, the following visit our shores during 
the winter. 
The Gadwall TixiiC^iiA. strepera, Lin.), mostly of a lineated grey colour, with some rufous on the wings; the 
Widgeon (A. penelope, Lin.) ; grey, with a vinaceous breast, and rufous head and neck, the forehead and along 
the top of the head yellowish-white ; the Teal (A. crecca), with a rufous head, marked with green on each side, 
and a spotted breast ; and the Gargany (A. querquerdula and circia), with a white stripe behind the eye. [In 
addition to these, two stragglers have been found in Britain, the Bimaculated Duck, (A. giocitans,) from Asia, 
allied to the Teal, but larger, with a brown head, having two large glossy green spots on each side ; and the 
American Widgeon, with a Teal-like green stripe on the sides of the head (a trace of which is sometimes met with 
in the common Widgeon), no rufous on the head, a narrower bill, and smaller tracheal capsule. In all these the 
females have lineated brown plumage, which is characteristic of the true double-moulting Bucks with unlobated 
hind-toe, and the males are finely rayed across. The habits of all are nearly similar to those of the common 
species.] 
The genus of 
The Mergansers {Mergus, Lin.) — 
of which, much more slender and cylindrical than in any of the foregoing, 
has each mandible armed throughout its length with small pointed teeth , 
like those of a saw, directed backwards, [and which are merely modifica- 
tions of the ordinary lamellae] ; the tip of the upper mandible is hooked. 
Their port and even their plumage are the same as in the Ducks, properly 
so called ; but their gizzard is less muscular, and the intestines and cceca 
are shorter, [though less so than in the Scoters and Eiders. They have a 
lobated hind-toe, and the plumage is moulted in autumn only, the colours 
of the male undergoing an extraordinary amount of change towards mid- 
summer. They do not acquire their adult dress until the second general 
renewal of the feathers]. The labyrinth at the inferior larynx of the 
males is enormous, and in part membranous [resembling that of the other 
Ducks with lobated hind-toe] ; and they live on lakes and ponds, where 
they are very destructive to fish, breeding in similar situations to the 
common Duck. 
[Of five species, four are met with in the British Isles, three of them commonly 
during the winter. All are beautiful birds, at least the males in breeding dress. 
They are— the Great Merganser {M. merganser and castor), as large as a Shieldrake, 
with green head and neck, and short bushy crest, the body white, more or less 
deeply suffused with saffron, with a blackish mantle, coral bill, and orange legs, 
— the male ; and female rufous-brown, white beneath, with a slender and much 
longer crest ; which retires further north to breed : the Bay-breasted M. (M. ser- 
rator), size of a Mallard, with a rufous brown breast, spotted with blackish, a green- 
A .g. OUCW.UU. neck, surmounted with a long thin crest, white ring round the 
neck, and elegant bordered shoulder-tufts ; female very like the last ; which breeds on our northern lakes : and 
