Page:Natural History, Birds.djvu/307

294 it were, sifted most effectually by this curiously shaped beak; the refuse is expelled, but the food is retained. It is probable, also, that the tongue is materially employed on this process; for unlike that of all [most] other birds, it is remarkably large, thick, and fleshy."



This Family seems to afford one very obvious link of connexion between the Swimming and the Wading birds, in that division of it known as Geese. They retain some of the manners of the Waders, they walk much more than they swim; their food consists more of grain and insects than of fishes; their legs are long, and they have a considerable space unfeathered above the tarsal joint. This division, including the Swans, also retain a considerable length of neck.