. A history of British birds, indigenous and migratory: including their organization, habits, and relations; remarks on classification and nomenclature; an account of the principal organs of birds, and observations relative to practical ornithology .. . ployed by the naturalist, Phoenicopterinae, An-serinse, Cygninae, Anatinae, Fuligulinae, and Merganserinae ;of all which, the first excepted, representatives occur inBritain. The Phcenicopterinae, of which only three speciesare known, are characterized by a very peculiar formation ofthe bill, which is suddenly deflected in the middle, and bythe
. A history of British birds, indigenous and migratory: including their organization, habits, and relations; remarks on classification and nomenclature; an account of the principal organs of birds, and observations relative to practical ornithology .. . ployed by the naturalist, Phoenicopterinae, An-serinse, Cygninae, Anatinae, Fuligulinae, and Merganserinae ;of all which, the first excepted, representatives occur inBritain. The Phcenicopterinae, of which only three speciesare known, are characterized by a very peculiar formation ofthe bill, which is suddenly deflected in the middle, and bythe extreme elongation of the neck and legs, insomuch thatthese birds have by many ornithologists been placed amongthe Waders. The Merganserinse are distinguished by anattenuated bill, of which the lamellae are dentiform, resemb-ling the teeth of a saAv. But even these groups blend withthe rest, Phoenicopterus being connected with the Geese bythe genus Cereopsis, and Merganser passing into the Fuligu-linae by means of the genus Mergus. The other families areso connected that it is impossible strictly to define them ; andtherefore in giving their characters, I shall confine myself togeneral and comprehensive terms, applicable only with 579 ANSERINE. GEESE AND ALLIED SPECIES. The birds popularly known by the names of Geese,Swans, and Ducks, although so intimately connected by thecomplex modification of their organs, as to render it impos-sible to institute well denned sections among them, are toonumerous to be considered as forming a single family, theiranalogical relations to other groups rendering it necessary tosubdivide them into families and genera. In instituting thesesections it seems to me that we must be guided more by thegeneral form than by the modifications of particular we, for example, to place together all the species whichhave the bill short, and in some degree tapering or conical,then those in which it is longer and of nearly equal breadth
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookidhistoryofbr, booksubjectbirdsgreatbritain
