The Hijlory of ANIMALS 
Anas alho variegatd abdomine longitudinaliter cinereO 
maculato. 
The Anas, variegated with white , and with a longitudi¬ 
nalfpot of grey on the belly . 
This alfo is a very beautiful bird, and a large one ; it is very little inferior to the 
common goofe in fize : the head is large and rounded ; the eyes are large, and their 
iris is of a bright hazel, with an admixture fometimes more, fometimes lefs, of yellow- 
ifli and reddifh: the beak is fhort, but broad, and a little crooked ; it is flat, and 
large, and rounded at the extremity: it is ferrated all round the edges, and at the 
point, and is of a blood-red colour, except that the verge at the extremity- is black, 
and the noftrils alfo are black. 
There is an oblong and prominent tubercle of a flefhy ftrudftire at the upper part of 
the beak, or between the bafe of the upper chap and the head : the head itfelf is of 
a very deep, changeable green, fo dufky, that at a little diftance it appears black : the 
upper part of the neck alfo is of the fame colour; the reft of the neck is of a faow- 
white : the fhoulders, and the upper part of the breaft, are of a very beautiful orange 
colour; this forms a kind of broad ring, furrounding the whole anterior part of the 
body : the breaft and belly are white, but there runs all along them a beautiful line of 
dark grey in the middle, from the breaft, nearly to the infertion of the tail In the 
loweft part of the belly, juft at the origin of the tail, there is a faint tinge of the 
orange colour, like that of the breaft and fhoulders: the back is white, but there are 
a number of coal-black feathers on the ftdes 5 and the long feathers, which have their 
origin from the fhoulders, are alfo black: the wings are long, and are black and 
white j many of the long feathers, and all the covering or fhort ones, except thofe in 
the extream joint, are white thefe excepted ones are black, and they make a beauti¬ 
ful variegation : fome of the long feathers, which are white in the middle, are tipped 
with black at the etrds, or edged with it at the fides: the long feathers are about 
twenty-eight in each wing; he tail is fhort, and is compofed of twelve feathers; 
thefe are white, and are all of them, except the two outer ones, tipped with black at 
the extremities. 
The legs are fhort and robuft ; they are of a pale flefli colour, and the fkin which 
covers them is fo thin, that the courfe of the feveral veffels is eafily feen through it: the 
feet are large and webbed 3 the hinder toe is fhort, and the claws are all fhort, black, 
and obtufe. 
It is frequent with us about the coaft of Lancafhire, and in Wales: it’s flefh is 
coarfe and ill-tafted, but it is eaten by the common people. It builds' with us, and 
ufually makes it’s neft in holes of the ground. If there be any deferted rabbet-bur¬ 
rows,, or any other hollows of a like kind, it never fails to build in them, and has 
hence obtained, among our common people, the name of the Burrough-duck. All 
the writers of birds mention it. Ray and Willughby call it Tadorna and Vulpanfer ; 
Bellonius, fimply, Tadorna. It’s elegant variegations of colour, which, in their bright- 
nefs and regularity of difpofition, in fome degree refemble thofe on certain fhells, has 
obtained it alfo with us the name of the Shell-drake, or Shell-duck. 
Anas roflri ungue obtufo , cera fuperne bifida ru- 
gofa • M €atljbm’g 
rhe Anas , with the unguis of the beak obtufe, and IDUtfU 
the cera bifid and rugofie . 
This is a very beautiful bird j but the male and female differ fo extreamly, that 
they may eaiily be miftaken for diftindl fpecies: the male is in general white, almoft 
the whole body is of this colour; the head is large and rounded j the eyes are large, 
and 
k 
