Plate CCCCXI. Male.
Tail feathers twenty; bill and feet black, the former with a small
orange spot on each side at the base; plumage pure white. Young grey.
_Male_, 53, 84.
Common during winter in the Middle Atlantic Districts, especially on
Chesapeake Bay. Not seen south of Carolina. Columbia River. Breeds in
the Fur Countries.
American Wild Swan, Cygnus americanus, Sharpless, Amer. Journ.
of Sc. and Arts, v. xxii.
American Swan, Cygnus americanus, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. v. p.
133.
GENUS IV. ANAS, Linn. DUCK.
Bill about the length of the head, somewhat higher than broad at the
base, depressed and widened towards the end, rounded at the tip; upper
mandible with the dorsal line sloping, and a little concave, the ridge
at the base broad and flat, towards the end broadly convex, as are the
sides, the edges soft and rather obtuse, the marginal lamellæ
numerous, oblique; unguis decurved, obovate; nasal groove elliptical,
subbasal, filled by the soft membrane of the bill; lower mandible
flattened, slightly recurvate, with the angle very long and narrow,
the unguis roundish, the lamellæ numerous. Nostrils subbasal,
elliptical, near the ridge. Head of moderate size, oblong, compressed;
neck rather long and slender; body full, depressed. Feet short, stout,
placed a little behind the centre of the body; tibia bare a little
above the joint; tarsus short, somewhat compressed, anteriorly with
small scutella, laterally and behind with angular scales; hind toe
extremely small, with a very narrow membrane; third toe longest,
fourth a little shorter, but longer than second; all covered with
numerous oblique scutella; anterior connected by reticulated
membranes. Claws small, arched, compressed, rather acute. Plumage
dense, soft. Wings of moderate length, acute; second quill longest,
first very little shorter; inner secondaries elongated and tapering;
tail short, much rounded, of sixteen feathers. Œsophagus rather
narrow, dilated on the lower part of the neck; stomach an extremely
muscular, transversely elliptical gizzard; intestine long and rather
wide; cœca long. Trachea of the males, with a transverse bony
unsymmetrical dilatation at the inferior larynx.