ANAS, Lin. Scc.
Bill middle-sized, robust, straight, more or less de pressed ; invested with a thin skin; deeper than broad at the base, which is either furnished with a fleshy tubercle, or quite smooth, always depressed towards the tip, which is obtuse, and furnished with a nail ; the edges of both mandibles divided into conical or flat lamellated teeth ; nostrils almost at the surface of the bill, at some distance from the base, half closed by the flat membrane that covers the nasal foss ; legs short, feathered to the knee, and placed near the abdomen ; the three fore toes webbed, the hinder detached, and either destitute of a web, or having the ru diments of one ; wings of moderate dimensions.
The birds which compose this numerous family are partial to an aquatic residence, swimming with ease and gracefulness, feeding on fish, testacea, insects, vegetables, and grains ; some making use of their long necks to catch, with their submersed bill, the aliment most suited to their constitution, and others diving, and remaining a consi derable time under water, a practice to which most of them have recourse when closely pursued. Several of the species are found on fresh, and others on salt water, or on the sea-shore. Their gait is awkward and hobbling ; and some of the species drag themselves along the ground with difficulty, and seldom quit the liquid element for which they were destined. Most of them moult twice a-year, namely, in June and in November, the male only changing the colour of his plumage, assuming in June a part of that more appropriate to the female, and in No vember his more gay bridal attire, which he retains till hatching time. The females moult later than the males, and apparently only once a-year, while the young males, before their first moulting, greatly resemble the mature females. When journeying in Lapland, in 1732, Linne, to his utter astonishment, observed the river Calix quite covered with birds of this genus for eight days succes sively, migrating to the sea in pursuit of a warmer lati tude. Their numbers, he tells us, exceeded those of the army of Xerxes. The larva of the common gnat, an insect which swarms in countless myriads in the moist and woody districts, during the short summer that is allotted to these northern regions, supply whole legions of web footed fowls with a favourite food. Most of the tribe which we are about to illustrate, furnish wholesome and savoury aliment to mankind ; and, with this view, a con siderable number of the species are reduced to a state of domestication. They are conveniently distributed into
geese, swans, and ducks, properly so called.
A. Geese.
Bill shorter than the head, and somewhat conical ; ser ratures of the edges conical. They reside in meadows and marshes, swim little, and never dive. They fly in wedge-shaped companies. There is no external difference between the two sexes.
A. hyperborea, Gruel. Ste. Anser hyfterboreus, Pallas, Vieill. and including di. exrulcscens, Gmel. and Lath. which is the young bird, before the fourth year ; Snow Goose, Blue-winged Goose, Prov. Bull-creek. Forehead much elevated, lateral portion of the bill cut on each side by longitudinal channels and serratures. Size of the com mon goose, length two feet eight inches, extent of wing three feet and a half, and weight between five and six pounds. So variable are the young in their plumage, that it is difficult to meet with two that exactly coincide.
Great numbers of this species occur about Hudson's Bay, visit Severn River in May, and stay a fortnight, but go farther north to breed. They return to Severn Fort about the beginning of September, and remain till the middle of October, when they depart for the south, and are observed in immense flocks attended by their young. At this time many thousands of them are killed by the in habitants, who pluck and eviscerate them, and put them into holes of the earth, where they are preserved quite sweet, by frost, throughout the severe season. These birds seem also to occupy the west side of America and Kamtschatka. In the summer months they are plentiful on the arctic coast of Siberia ; but never migrate beyond 130° of longitude. They are supposed to pass the win ter in more moderate climes, as they have been seen flying over Silesia, possibly on their passage to some other country, as it does not appear that they continue there. Those of America, in like manner, winter in Carolina. The Siberians decoy them by a person covered with a white skin, and crawling on all-fours, whom they are stu pid enough, it is said, to mistake for their leader, and whom they follow, when driven by men in their rear, until he entangles them in nets, or leads them into a sort of pond prepared for the purpose.