BRITISH BIRDS. 
270 
OF THE ANAS. 
The bill of this genus is ftrong, broad, deprelTed, 
or flat, and commonly furniflied at the end with a 
nail y the edges of the mandibles divided into la- 
mill^ or teeth : noftrils fmall and oval : tongue 
broad, edges near the bafe, fringed : feet webbed ; 
the middle toe the longeft. 
This genus, in which ornithblogifts have included 
all the Swans, Geefe, and Ducks, amounts, accord- 
ing to the latefl enumeration, to ninety-eight fpecies, 
and about fourteen varieties ; thirty-three of the 
former, and one of the latter, are accounted Britifli 
birds. 
From the Swan downward to the Teal, they are 
all a clean-plumaged beautiful race of birds, and 
fome of them exquifitely fo. Thofe which have 
been reclaimed from a flate of nature, and live de- 
pendent on man, are extremely ufeful to him : un- 
der his protedlion they breed in - great abundance, 
and without requiring much of his time or care, 
lead their young to the pool almofl: as foon as they 
are hatched, where they inflantly, with inftindive 
perception, begin to fearch for their food, which at 
firfl: confifls chiefly of weeds, worms, and infedts ; 
thefe they fift, as it were, from the mud, and for 
that purpofe their bills are admirably adapted. 
When they are further advanced in life, they pick 
