4'2B The Hiflory of ANIMALS, 
Trie heaa is of a greyifh-black, but the edges of the feathers which fall down to¬ 
ward the throat, have a tinge of bluifh s the fides of the head near the beak and 
juft under it, are white, variegated with fpots of brown : the back is of a deep and 
du% brown, only the edges of the feathers are of a whitifh-red : the rump is wholly 
black; the lower part of the neck, the fhoulders, and the top of the breaft are co¬ 
vered with very ftnooth and gloffy feathers, variegated in an elegant manner with black 
and white. the lower part of the breaft is white j the belly is of a pale brown, and is 
variegated with tranfverfe ftreaks of black, and under the tail there are fome tranf- 
verfe ftreaks of brown : the fides are very beautifully variegated with alternate lines 
of black and white: the tail is very fhort; it fcarce appears beyond the feathers which 
coyer it, and is compofed of fixteen robuft but fhort feathers terminating in fharp 
points: thefe are white at the tips, and fome of them alfo at the edges, but the reft 
of the feather is brown. 
The wings are long, and there are twenty-fix feathers in each; thefe are variegated 
with black, white, and brown, and make a very pretty figure in the wingj fome of 
them being {imply of the one of thefe colours; fome partly of the one, and partly of 
the other : the covering feathers alfo are variegated with white, and with a reddifh- 
brown, upon a ground of a fimpler brown. 
, j 
The legs are fhort and robuft; they are feathered as far as the joint of the knee* 
and their naked part is white : the hinder toe is very fmall, the others are conne&ed 
by a broad and ftrong membrane; they are long, and confequently the foot itfelf is 
large, and admirably calculated for the bird’s fwimming: the colouring in the wings 
of this fpecies fufficiently diftinguifhes it at firft fight from all the others of the ge¬ 
nus ; there are marks of black of a reddifh-brown and of white, diftindt and feparate* 
and are placed juft over one another. 
This is a native of our fen countries, and is much efteemed at table ;■ moft of the 
writers on birds have defcribed it. Gefner calls it Anas ftrepera j Aldrovand, Anas 
Platyrynchos j and Ray, Anas Platyrynchos roftro nigro et piano. We call it the Gad- 
wall or the Grey. 
. , j. 
Anas rofiri extremo dilatato rotw'idoque , ungue incurvo. 
'The Anas , with the extre?nity of the beak broad and 
round , and its unguis bent . 
r 
This is a very fingular fpecies; it is very nearly equal to our duck in fize : the head 
is large and rounded, and the eyes large and bright, but the beak is of fo fingular a 
form, that it diftinguifhes it at fight from all the others j it is confiderably long and 
large, but as the others are ufually broadeft at the bafe, and fomewhat fmaller at the 
point, this, on the contrary, is broadeft at the extremity : it is there flatted, and even 
hollowed in fome degree, and is terminated by an unguis, which is fmall but bent: the 
edges of both the upper and under chaps are ferrated, or furnifhed with a kind of 
pedinated border : the tongue is large, thick, and flefhy, efpecially toward the ex¬ 
tremity. 
The head and the upper part of the neck are of a beautiful blue, and fometimes of 
a deep green, with a caft of brown in it, changeable in the different lights, like the 
colour of the common drake’s neck : the lower part of the neck is white in the fore¬ 
part, and on the hinder of a mixt white and brown: the fhoulders alfo are of the 
fame brown and white mixed colour: the breaft and the belly are reddifh and black ; 
juft under the tail there are fome black feathers : the back is of a deep brown, but 
there is a changeable fhade of a very beautiful purplifh thrown over it, and fome lights 
difcover a tinge of deep green in this: the feathers which cover the thighs are varie¬ 
gated with tranfverfe black lines. 
The wings are long and large; the long feathers are twenty-four in each : thefe 
are fome of them entirely brown, and others have the edges tinged with greenifh, pur- 
plifh. 
