American Duck Shooting (Classic Reprint)

THE DUCK FAMILY.No group of birds is more important'to'mail than that known as the duck family. They,'are c'aj!ea;thc Anatidce, from the Latin word Anas, a duck'; °anid be-' long to the Order Anseres, or Lamellirostral Swimmers,-birds whose bills are provided with lamella?, -by which are meant the little transverse ridges found on the margins of the bills of most ducks. Sometimes the lamella? appear like a row of white blunt teeth; in the shoveller, they constitute a fine comb-like structure, which acts as a strainer, while in the case of the mergansers they have the appearance of being real teeth, which, however, they are not, since teeth are always implanted in sockets in the bone of the jaw; and this is true of no known birds, except some Cretaceous forms of Western America and the Jurassic Archceopteryx.The bill is variously shaped in the members of the duck family. Usually it is broad and depressed, as in the domestic duck; or it may be high at the base and approach the Table of Contents CONTENTS; page; Preface 3; PART I; THE DUCK FAMILY; SWANS? • • • • 33; American Swan* • ? 34; Trumpeter Swan 3^; GEESE AND BRANT 39; Blue Goose 43; Lesser Snow Goose 46; Greater Snow Goose 48; Ross's Goose Si; White-fronted Goose 53; Canada Goose 56; Hutchins's Goose---- 58; Western Goose 58; Cackling Goose••• 59; Barnacle Goose 65; Brant 67; Black Brant 69; Emperor Goose 72; 7; Univ Calif - Digitized by Microsoft ®; 8; CONTENTS; page; TREE DUCKS 75; Black-bellied Tree Duck 76; Fulvous-bellied Tree Duck 79; THE TRUE DUCKS; NON-DIVING DUCKS 85; Mallard 87; Black Duck or Dusky Duck 93; Florida Dusky Duck•••• 95; Mottled Duck 97; Gadwall I03; European Widgeon J07; American Widgeon, Bald-pate no; European Teal; Green-winged Teai n8; Bl