. Birds of other lands, reptiles, fishes, jointed animals and lower forms; . for the most part of a heavier buildthan the foregoing species, and many are of a sombre coloration. All the species divers, and in consequence ha\e the legs, which are short, placed far backwards, andthis causes them to assume a more upright carriage when on land. The curious bony bulbat the base of the windpipe found in the fresh-water species becomes in the salt-water formsgreatly enlarged, and its walls incompletely ossified, leaving large spaces to be filled bypeculiarly delicate sheets of membrane. Th
. Birds of other lands, reptiles, fishes, jointed animals and lower forms; . for the most part of a heavier buildthan the foregoing species, and many are of a sombre coloration. All the species divers, and in consequence ha\e the legs, which are short, placed far backwards, andthis causes them to assume a more upright carriage when on land. The curious bony bulbat the base of the windpipe found in the fresh-water species becomes in the salt-water formsgreatly enlarged, and its walls incompletely ossified, leaving large spaces to be filled bypeculiarly delicate sheets of membrane. The majority of the species in this section frequentthe open sea, but some occur inland. One of the most useful, and at the same time most ornamental, of this section is theElUER-DUCK, the male in full plumage being a truly magnificent bird : the female, as in themajority of ducks, is clad in sober colours. In Iceland and Xorwa\ the eider-duck is strictlyprotected, a fine being imposed for killing it during the breeding-season, or even for firinga gun near its haunts. This. Fhtlt t/ W. RtiiT] PARADISE-DUCKS nh species is a native of Neiv Zealand, where the photograph was with the white head is the jcmale The bird on the most unusual care is, however,by no means of a disin-terested kind, but is that certain pri\ilegedpersons ma\ rob the birds oftheir eggs and the down onwhich they rest, the latterbeing the valuable eider-down so much in demand forbed-coverlets and other pur-poses. The eggs and down,says Professor Newton, aretaken at intervals of a fewdays b\- the owners of theeider-fold, and the birds arethus kept depositing bothduring the whole season. . .Every duck is ultimatelyallowed to hatch an egg ortwo to keep up the stock. Mr. \V. C. Sheppard gives an interesting account of a visit toan eider-colony on an island off the coast of Iceland. On landing, he says, the ducksand their nests were everywhere. Great brown ducks sat upon their nests in mass
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecad, booksubjectfishes, booksubjectzoology
