Birds and Birding's Guide to:

Watching THE GOOSE-LIKE BIRDS

THE SWANS, GEESE, DUCKS, AND MERGANSERS

The Ducks

Brigaded together under the general but well-understood name of”Ducks”are a great variety of forms, not all of which, however, agree quite with the abstract idea of what a”Duck”should be. Broadly speaking, the Ducks are distinguished by having the neck shorter than the body, a broad, more or less flattened,

”Duck-like”bill, and the front of the tarsus with narrow transverse plates, and shorter than the middle toe. Most of them conform to this plan, but at the outset we meet with a group — the so-called Tree-Ducks — which afford more or less of a transition between the true Ducks and the Geese, since in these the lower part of the tarsus in front is without the transverse plates, but covered with small, reticulated scales. In their main characters, however, the Tree-Ducks agree with the Ducks and are perhaps best placed with them, although in voice and vegetarian habits of feeding they certainly suggest the Geese.

previous bird species next bird species