brand-goose.—Brown; head, neck, and breast, black; collar white; bill, wings, tail and legs, black; broad spot on each side of the neck; tail-coverts and vent white; belly and shoulders cinereous; flanks streaked with white; considerably smaller than the preceding. Inhabits Europe, Asia, and North America. These birds appear on our coasts, particularly in the west of England, during winter, and in Shetland are called horra geese. But they are most plentiful in Ireland, where they are taken in nets placed across the rivers, especially in those which empty themselves into the northern parts of the Irish channel. Sometimes they appear in vast flocks on the coast of Picardy, destroying all the corn near the sea. They migrate northward in summer, and return south in autumn, flying high in wedge-shaped flocks. They feed on polygonum viviparum, empetrum nigrum, and other plants, but chiefly on aquatic plants and marine vermes. They are easily tamed, and reckoned good for the table.

Eider, eider, or Cuthbert duck.—Bill cylindrical; mouth large, wrinkled, and bifid on the hind part; bill, legs, front, ocular band, breast, lower part of the back and belly black; middle of the head, upper part of the back, shoulders and wing-coverts white; a green blotch beneath the hind head. The female almost wholly obscurely ferruginous, with black lines; tail and primary quill-feathers dusky. The young are not mature in plumage till the third, or perhaps the fourth year. This species is nearly double the size of the common duck, and about 22 inches long. It inhabits the high latitudes of Europe, Asia, and America, and feeds chiefly on testaceous animals. It is rarely, if ever, seen in the south of England, but breeds in the north of Scotland, particularly on the western isles, as also on the Faroe islands, on the coast of Northumberland, in June and July. The nest is made on the ground, composed of marine plants, and lined with down of exquisite fineness which the female plucks from her own body. The eggs are usually five, and of a greenish colour. In Iceland the eider ducks generally build their nests on small islands not far from the shore, and sometimes even near the dwellings of the natives, who treat them with so much attention and kindness as to render them nearly tame. Two females will sometimes lay their eggs in the same nest, in which case they always agree remarkably well. As long as the female is fitting, the male continues on watch near the shore, but as soon as the young are hatched, he leaves them. The mother, however, remains with them a considerable time afterwards; and it is curious to observe her attention in leading them out of the nest almost as soon as they creep from the eggs. Having conducted them to the water's edge, she takes them on her back and swims a few yards with them, when she dives, and leaves them on the surface to take care of themselves. They are seldom afterwards seen on land. When the natives come to the nest, they carefully remove the female, and take away the superfluous down and eggs. They then replace the mother, and she begins to lay afresh, covering the eggs with new down; and when she can afford no more, the male comes to her assistance, and covers the eggs with his down, which is white. When the young ones leave the nest, which is about an hour after they are hatched, it is once more plundered. The best down and most eggs are got during the first three weeks of their laying; and it has generally been observed that they lay the greatest number of eggs in rainy weather. One female, during the time of laying, usually yields half a pound of down, which, however, is reduced one half after it is cleaned. When pure, it is sold in Lapland at the rate of two rixdollars a pound. It is extremely soft and warm, and so light and elastic, that a couple of handfuls, squeezed together, are sufficient to fill a covering like a feather bed, which is used in those cold countries instead of a common quilt or blanket. The Iceland company at Copenhagen, generally export every year... year from 1500 to 2000 pounds weight of down, cleaned and uncleaned, exclusive of what is privately exported by foreigners. The Greenlanders kill these birds with darts, pursuing them in their little boats, watching their course by the air-bubbles when they dive, and always striking at them when they rise wearied to the surface. Their flesh is valued as food, and their skins are made into warm and comfortable under garments.

**Mufcovy duck.**—Face naked, with red caruncles; legs and orbits naked, and with the bill red; tip of the bill and space round the nostrils black; crown black; temples, chin, and throat white, varied with black; breast and lower part of the belly brown, mixed with white; back and rump brown, with a green gold gloss; upper part of the belly white; three first quill-feathers white, the rest brown; tail feathers twenty, the outer white, the rest green gold. Two feet long; native of Brazil, and is domesticated in Europe. Has its name, not as vulgarly alleged, from the country of Mufcovy, but from the circumstances of its smelling of musk, which arises from the liquor secreted in the gland of the rump. Like other domesticated fowls they are subject to great varieties. They are a thriving and prolific species, and not only afficiate, but sometimes breed with the common duck. Their flesh is much esteemed. Mr Pennant says they are met with wild about Lake Baikal in Asia; Ray, that they are natives of Louisiana, Marckgrave, that they reside in Brazil, and Buffon, that they occur in the overflowed savannas of Guiana, where they feed in the daytime on the wild rice, and return in the evening to the sea. He adds, that they nestle on the trunks of rotten trees, and that after the young are hatched, the mother takes them, one after another, by the bill, and throws them into the water. Great numbers of the young brood are said to be destroyed by the alligators.

**Shoemaker.**—Extremity of the bill dilated, rounded, with an incurved nail; bill black; irides yellow; head and neck violet green; breast white, and immaculate; back, wings, and wedged-tail brown; belly chestnut; vent white; first and second wing coverts pale blue, greater brown, tipped with white, the rest edged with white; legs tawny. The female has a considerable resemblance to the common duck, but both sexes are very apt to vary in their colourings. This species inhabits Europe, Asia, and North America, but is by no means common in Britain. A few remain in France during the breeding season, making a nest of rushes in which they lay 10 or 12 rufous-coloured eggs.

**Red-breasted shoemaker.**—Brown; chin and breast chestnut; wings tipped with gray, wing-spot purple, edged with white; tail short, white; bill broad, brownish yellow; head large; eyes small; irides yellow; legs small, slender, and bay. Size of a tame duck. Sometimes found in the fens of Lincolnshire, but is rare, and little known.

**Ural duck.**—Waved with cinereous and yellowish, and spotted with brown; brown, speckled with gray beneath; throat brown-yellow, waved with black; tail long, black, wedged. Rather bigger than the common teal. Is not unfrequent in the greater lakes of the Ural mountains, and the rivers Ob and Irtish. Is not seen on the ground, being, from the situation of its legs, unable to walk; but it swims well and quickly, with the tail immersed in the water as far as the rump, and steering as a rudder, contrary to the common method of a duck's swimming. The nest is formed of reeds.

**Gadwall, or gray.**—Wing-spot rufous, black, and white; bill flat, black; legs tawny; rump black; back brown, waved with paler; breast and belly gray, varied with white. Nineteen inches long. Inhabits Europe and Northern Asia, visits Britain in winter, but not in great numbers. Supposed to breed in Sweden, and probably in Russia and Siberia. It is said to be a great diver, and to feed chiefly by night, concealing itself among the reeds and rushes during the day. It makes a note not unlike that of the mallard, but louder. Its flesh is savoury.

**Golden eye.**—Black and white; head turned; violet; a large white spot at each corner of the mouth; bill black; irides golden; lower part of the neck, breast, and belly, white; back and rump black; legs red. The markings of the female are, head red brown; neck gray; breast and belly white; wing coverts varied with dusky and cinereous; middle quill-feathers white; the rest and tail black; legs dusky. About 19 inches in length. Inhabits Europe, Asia, and North America.

Birds of this species do not assemble in large flocks, nor are they numerous on the British shores or on the lakes in the interior. They are late in taking their departure northward in the spring, and in their flight they make the air whistle with the vigorous quick strokes of their wings. They are excellent divers, and seldom set foot on shore; on which, it is said, they walk with great apparent difficulty, and, except in the breeding season, only repair to it for the purpose of taking their repose. They build in the hollows of trees, and prey on shell-fish, mice, fish, and frogs.

The *anas glaucion*, or *musillon*, seems to be only a variety of the golden eye in one stage of its plumage, before it arrives at maturity.

**Bimaculated, or clucking duck.**—Subcrested; brown, waved with black; head green; a ferruginous spot before and behind the eyes; breast with black spots; wing-spot green, edged with white. Length 20 inches; occurs along the Lena, and about Lake Baikal, and has been taken in a decoy in England. Has a singular note, somewhat like clucking.

**Wigeon, whiever, or whin.**—Tail pointed; vent feathers black; head bay; front white; back waved with black and white; bill plumbous, with a black nail; head and upper part of the neck red, with blackish spots; breast claret; body above waved with cinereous and blackish; wing-spot blue-green; black before and behind; wing-coverts varied brown and white; belly white; legs lead-colour. Female waved with brown; breast paler. Twenty inches long. Inhabits Europe, Asia, and Africa. Visits England in autumn, when great numbers are taken in decoys, being esteemed an excellent food. It likewise frequents our rivers and salt-water inlets in small flocks. It is remarkable for uttering a whistling or piping noise, which is frequently heard as it flies during the night. It lives on frogs, worms, insects, and water plants, and is sometimes domesticated. There is a variety with a filivery wing-spot, and the throat waved with ash-colour.

**Pin-tail duck.**—Tail pointed, long, black beneath; hind head with a white line on each side; back waved with cinereous; bill black, bluish at the sides; head ferruginous; throat white, a little spotted; body white beneath; neath; wings brown; wing spot violet, ferruginous on the fore-part, black and white on the hind-part; tail brown, edged with white, two middle feathers longer. Female less; wing-spot straw-coloured, and edged with white. Inhabits Europe, Asia, and America. These birds are seldom numerous in England, but flocks of them are sometimes abundantly spread along the isles and shores of Scotland and Ireland, and on the interior lakes of both these countries. This species measures twenty-eight inches in length, and is esteemed excellent eating.

Ferruginous duck.—Reddish-brown; bill dilated and rounded at the base; feet pale blue. Weight 20 ounces. Inhabits Denmark and Sweden, but very rarely occurs in this country.

Long-tailed duck.—Tail pointed, long; body black, white beneath; bill black, orange in the middle; head on the fore-part and sides reddish-gray; hind-part, breast, and belly, white; speculums long and white; sides of the neck with a black spot; lower part of the breast, back, wings, and tail, chocolate; four middle tail-feathers black, two middle ones longer, the rest white; legs dusky-red, or blackish. The female has the tail shorter and wedged; the body varied with blackish, rufous, and gray; the back black; collar and lower part of the belly white. Of the size of a wigeon. Inhabits Europe, Asia, and America, frequenting both the interior lakes and the sea shores of these quarters of the world. The birds of this species, do not, in the winter, like many of the other tribes, entirely quit their northern haunts, but considerable numbers remain there, enduring the rigours of the season, and enjoying, in summer, the perpetual day of an unletting sun. Numerous flocks, however, spread themselves southward in the winter, from Greenland and Hudson's bay, as far as New York in America, and from Iceland and Spitzbergen over Lapland, the Russian dominions, Sweden, Norway, and the northern parts of the British isles in Europe. The flocks which visit the Orkney isles appear in October, and continue there till April. About fifteen they are seen in large companies going to and returning from the bays, in which they frequently pass the night, making such a noise, as in frosty weather may be heard some miles. They are rather scarce in England, to which they resort only in very hard winters, and even then in small straggling parties. They fly swiftly, but seldom to a great distance, making a loud and singular cry. They are expert divers, and supposed to live chiefly on shell-fish. The female makes her nest among the grass near the water, and, like the eider duck, lines it with the fine down of her own body. According to Latham, she lays five eggs, which are of a bluish white colour, and about the size of those of a pullet.

Pochard, or red-headed wigeon.—Waved with ash-colour; head brown; pectoral band; vent and rump black; bill broad, blue, tipped with black; irides tawny; head and neck grey; breast and upper part of the back black; speculums and inner wing-coverts undulated with black and white; belly whitish, with dusky lines at the sides; legs plumbeous. Female darker; head pale reddish-brown; wing-coverts and belly cinereous. Nineteen inches long; weight 28 ounces. Inhabits Europe, Asia, and America. This species is frequently caught in the decoys in England, though it is not known to breed there. In some counties it is called pocher, dunbird, or green-headed wigeon. It is of a plump round shape, walks with a waddling and ungraceful step, but flies rapidly, and in flocks of from 20 to 40, commonly in a compact body. It is much in request for the table, but is not easily domesticated. The male has a labyrinth, or enlargement of the trachea, near the junction with the lungs, a singular conformation peculiar to the male of several species of the duck tribe, but the use of which is still unknown. In winter the pochard migrates southward, as far, it is said, as Egypt.

Garganey.—Wing-spot green; a white line above the eyes; bill lead-colour; crown dusky with oblong streaks; cheeks and neck purple, with white streaks; breast light brown, with semicircular black bars; belly white, lower part and vent speckled; first quill-feathers cinereous, outer webs of the middle ones green; speculums long, narrow, striped with white, dull-colour and black; tails dusky; legs lead-colour. Female, with an obscure white mark over the eye; plumage brownish; wings without the green spot. Length 17 inches. Inhabits Europe and Asia. By some called pied wigeon, or summer teal. Frequent only the fresh waters, feeding on seeds and aquatic plants. Is not common in Britain, and is said to be impatient of cold.

Teal.—Wing-spot green; a white line above and beneath the eyes; bill black; irides hazel; head and neck bright bay; a broad, green band behind the eyes to the nape, and terminating beneath in a white line; body whitish, with transverse blackish lines above; fore-part of the neck and breast with round black spots; wing-spot green, edged beneath with white, obliquely black above; vent black in the middle. The female is distinguished by the head and neck varied with whitish and brown, and the vent totally white. There are two permanent varieties, of which the first has the wing-spot varying in colour; the body brown-ash above, rufous-white beneath, and black spots on the belly. The second has the cheek, chin, and under parts of the body white-rufous, and the wing-spot without black. Weight about 12 ounces; length 14 inches and a half. The smallest of the duck tribe, and in high request at the table. Inhabits Europe and Asia; visits us in winter, and frequents our fresh waters in small flocks. Many are caught in the decoys, and a few breed in Wolmer Forest, in the marshes about Carlisle, &c. The female makes a large nest composed of soft dried grasses lined with feathers, and cunningly concealed in a hole among the roots of reeds and bulrushes, near the edge of the water. The eggs are of the size of those of a pigeon, from six to ten in number, and of a dull white colour marked with small brownish spots. The male has a bony labyrinth in the lower part of the windpipe.

Mallard, or wild duck.—Cinereous; middle tail-feathers (of the male) recurved; bill straight; collar white; bill greenish-yellow; head and neck glossy-green; speculums white, with waved brown lines; back brown; vent black-green; breast chestnut; belly grey; wing-spot violet-green, edged above with a black and white line; two middle tail feathers dark green, and recurved. Female reddish-brown, spotted with black. Very subject to vary, especially by domestication, when it is our common tame duck. About 23 inches long. Weight about two pounds and a half. Inhabits Europe, Asia, and America; is very common in marshy places in many Anferees. ny parts of this kingdom, but no where occurs in greater plenty than in Lincolnshire, where prodigious numbers are annually taken in the decoys. In only ten decoys in the neighbourhood of Wainfleet, as many as 31,200 have been taken in one season. There is a prohibition, by act of parliament, against taking them between the first of June and the first of October. They do not always build their nests close to the water, but often at a good distance from it, in which case the female will take the young in her beak, or between her legs to the water. They have sometimes been known to lay their eggs in a high tree, in the deserted nest of a magpie or crow; and an instance has likewise been recorded of one found at Etchingham in Sussex, fitting on nine eggs in an oak, at the height of 25 feet from the ground, the eggs being supported by some small twigs laid crossways. Like many of the tribe, the mallards, in vast numbers quit the north at the end of autumn, and migrating southward, arrive in the beginning of winter in large flocks, and spread themselves over the lakes and marshy wastes of the British isles. They pair in the spring, when the greater number of them again retire northward to breed, but many straggling pairs stay with us; and they, as well as preceding colonists, remain to rear their young, which become natives, and remain with us throughout the year. The common domestic variety of this species affumes very different markings; but the male, even in its tame state, retains the curling of the feathers at the tail. Habits of domestication, however, have deprived the tame duck of that sprightly look and shape which distinguishes the mallard, and have substituted a more dull and less elegant form and appearance in their stead. It is also deserving of remark, that ducks pair, and are monogamous in the wild state, but become polygamous when tame. The Chinese make great use of ducks, but prefer the tame to the wild. We are told that most of them in that country are hatched by artificial heat. The eggs being laid in boxes of sand, are placed on a brick hearth, to which is communicated a proper degree of heat during the time required for hatching. The ducklings are fed with cray-fish and crabs, boiled and cut small, and afterwards mixed with boiled rice; and in about a fortnight they are able to shift for themselves. The proprietors then provide them with an old step-mother, who leads them where they are to find provender; being first put on board a boat, which is destined for their habitation, and from which the whole flock, amounting often to 300 or 400, go out to feed, and return at command. This method is commonly practised during the nine warmest months of the year, and especially during rice harvest, when the masters of the duck boats row up and down according to the opportunity of procuring food, which is found in plenty at the tide of ebb, as the rice plantations are overflowed at high water. It is curious to observe how these birds obey their masters; for some thousands belonging to different boats will feed at large on the same spot, and on a signal given will follow their leader to their respective boats without a single stranger being found among them. No fewer than 40,000 such boats are supposed to ply on the Tigris. When confined to dry situations, ducks degenerate in strength, beauty, and flavour. They feed on various animal and vegetable substances, for which they uneasily search with their curiously constructed bills, fitting and separating every alimentary particle from the mud. When older, they also devour worms, spawn, water-insects, and sometimes frogs and small fishes, together with the various seeds of bog and water plants.

Black-billed whistling duck.—Brown; head somewhat Arborescent; belly spotted with white and black. Smaller than the preceding. Inhabits Guiana and Jamaica; winters in Carolina, and builds and sits on trees.

Red-crested duck.—Black; head and upper part of Rufina; neck tectaceous; crown reddish, that of the male crested; wings beneath, and at the edges white; tail brown. Female brown, and wants the crest. Inhabits the Caspian sea, and the lakes of the Tartarian deserts; is sometimes also found in Italy and Barbary.

Tufted duck.—Crest pendent; body black; belly and Fuligula-wing-float white; bill broad, livid, tipped with black; irides golden; head greenish; shoulders blackish-brown, with pale straw-coloured dots; legs dusky-blue. Female brownish, wants the crest. Sixteen inches long. Inhabits Europe and Northern Asia. There are several varieties. It is not uncommon with us in winter, and is frequently seen in our fresh waters as late as near the end of March. It is often brought to market, and sold for wigeon. It lives not only in fresh water, but in the sea; dives well, and feeds on small fishes, crabs and shellfish, and likewise on the seeds of aquatic plants, particularly those of the common ruff.

Gen. 33. Mergus.

Bill toothed, slender, cylindrical, hooked at the point; nostrils small, oval in the middle of the bill; feet four-toed, outer toe longest.

The birds of this genus live on fish, and are very destructive in ponds.

Crested merganser.—Crest globular, white on each side; body brown above, white beneath; bill and legs black; irides golden; crest larger than the head, edged with black. Female brown; crest less and ferruginous. Length seventeen inches and a half; weight nearly 23 ounces. An elegant species, which inhabits North America, appearing at Hudson's bay about the end of May, and building, close to the lakes, a nest composed of grass, lined with feathers from its own breast.

Goosander.—A longitudinal crest, somewhat erect; the breast white, without spots; the tail feathers ash-coloured; shaft black; bill, legs, and irides red; greater quill-feathers black; lesser white. Weight about four pounds; length two feet four inches. Inhabits Europe, Asia, and America. Sometimes visits our rivers and lakes in severe winters, but retires to the more northern latitudes to breed. It has been known to build on trees, but more frequently among rocks or stones, and lays 14 eggs, which, with the bird itself, are eagerly devoured by the weasel. It swims with only the head above the surface of the water; dives deep; remains a long time below, and rises at a considerable distance. Its flesh is rancid and scarcely eatable. In quest of fish, it dives with great celerity, and holds its slippery prey with great security by means of its toothed bill, so admirably adapted to the purpose.

Dun diver, or sparkling fowl.—Crested; cinereous; Caftor-head and upper parts of the neck bay; chin, middle quill feathers, and belly white; bill and irides red; belly sometimes flesh-colour. Weighs about 38 ounces; measures measures 2½ inches in length. Inhabits the same countries with the preceding, and by some naturalists is reckoned the female; but the labyrinth, or enlargement at the bottom of the windpipe, seems to prove it to be a male, and consequently a distinct species.

Red-breasted merganser.—Crest pendent; breast reddish and variegated; collar white; tail-feathers brown, varied with cinereous; under part of the bill and legs red; feathers of the sides of the breast large, white, edged with black, covering the fore part of the folded wings. Female with scarcely any crest; head and beginning of the neck rufous. Twenty-one inches long. Inhabits the northern parts of Europe, Asia, and America. Breeds in Greenland, Hudson's bay, Newfoundland, Siberia, the north of Scotland, &c. Makes its nest of withered grass, and down torn from its own breast, on dry land, and lays from eight to 13 white eggs, equal in size to those of a duck.

Sneew, or white nere.—Crest pendent; hind head black; body white; back and temples black; wings variegated; bill and legs black; wing-spot white; nape; oval spot from the bill surrounding the eyes, back, and two arched lines on each side, near the beginning of the wings, black. Female has the head smooth and gray; band across the eyes black, and under the eyes a white spot; body blackish-brown above; white beneath; upper part of the head bay; chin white. From 15 to 17 inches long. Inhabits Europe and America. Breeds in the Arctic regions, and is driven to the south only by severe weather.

Minute sneew, or long diver.—Brown-ash; under parts of the body and chin white; head and upper part of the neck ferruginous; wing-spot white before and behind. Very much resembles the female of the preceding, but wants the black oval eye-spot. About 14 inches and a half long. Is rarely met with in the south of England, and only in winter when the weather is severe. It dives with great ease in pursuit of fish, and remains long under water.

Gen. 34. Alca, Auk.