26 Supplemental History

# ON MERGANSERS

Mergansers are closely related to cormorants, and while many varieties are identified in the third volume of my *Ornithology*, the Arctic merganser—sent from Norway and described by Charles de l'Écluse—should not be passed over in silence. It is a web-footed sea bird, larger than a domestic goose. It typically measures two feet long from the neck, where it joins the breast, to the tail, with a body girth of two feet. Its wings are fourteen inches long, and its tail is short, barely reaching three inches. The neck is nearly eight inches long, and the head is short, at three inches wide. The beak is black and pointed, exceeding four inches in length.

The tongue is nearly three inches long, black, pointed, and cartilaginous; near the upper part where it attaches to the beak, it is equipped on both sides with inward-curving teeth, while the middle portion is rough. Similarly, the palate is armed with a row of four small, short, inward-facing teeth, which allow the bird to easily grip and consume fish, as the beak itself lacks teeth.

The entire body is covered in dense feathers. Those on the breast, the whole belly, and the underside of the wings are short and white; however, those on the back and the upper surface of the wings are longer and blackish, though each is marked with white spots near the tip. This variety of feathers on the back and sides mimics the variegated coloring of a guinea fowl. Furthermore, the neck is decorated with a collar of black feathers, and the head is covered in similar plumage. The areas surrounding the beak and eyes are distinguished by white spots. Under the throat, it also has some small white feathers mixed with the black ones. The legs are set at the very back of the body and are a little over three inches long, flat, and black. The feet are four inches long and black, featuring three toes joined by a dark membrane all the way to the claws. Indeed, near the back of each foot, slightly above the joint, a small appendage resembling a spur can be seen.

Hoier has left a written record that a bird of this kind was discovered on the Faroe Islands, situated between Norway and Iceland. He notes that it raises its young in the water, is only seen with the arrival of autumn, and rarely touches land. The sea merganser mentioned by Gesner in his *Supplements* seems not very different from this one. Likewise, the American merganser, noted for its tiny wings, does not deviate much from these birds; for this reason, it is considered a monstrous bird.

# ON QUAILS

Although only one genus of quails was mentioned in the second volume of my *Ornithology*—and though Aristotle wrote of a white quail being seen, he by no means established it as a different species (the reason why birds in certain places sometimes turn white was explained in its proper place)—we nevertheless read in the works of Marcin Kromer that quails with green feet have been sighted. Eating or using these birds causes convulsions, yet our local quails lack this green color on their feet. We now add the "water quail," not because it belongs to the same genus, but solely on account of its size and the speed of its feet.

There is a certain dusky bird native to the Mexican lakes, rivaling the quail in size, but with a long beak that curves downward. It has long legs and runs extremely fast along the surface of the water; since it almost never flies, it feeds on small fish, and is called the "water quail" by the inhabitants in their native tongue.