148 BIRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



gated middle pair uniform deep black. Bill plumbeous-blue, the ungui, base, and stripe 

 along culmen, black; iris brown; feet dusky. Arl nit male in summer: "Head, neck, and 

 under parts generally as in the adult female, except that the abdomen is duller in color and 

 less marked; back dull dark brown, each feather having one or two irregular dirty- white 

 bars, and some being irregularly vermiculated with that color; rump washed with gray; tail 

 similar in color to that of the bird last described ['i.e. adult male in winter], but the two 

 central feathers are but slightly elongated; wings also as in the last described stage of 

 plumage, but the elongated secondaries and scapulars are shorter and blunter, and in color 

 dark gray, black along the centre, some of the latter being marked like the back; flanks 

 grayish brown, every feather having broad yellowish-white bars; under tail-coverts as in 

 the female." (SHARPE & DKESSEK.) Adult female: Above slate-dusky, variegated trans- 

 versely with yellowish white or pale ochraceous; these markings sometimes irregularly 

 bar-like, but oftener of U-shaped form, one on the edge, and one in the middle portion of 

 each feather. Wing much as in the male, but metallic color of the speculum duller, the 

 ochraceous bar anterior to it paler, and the white terminal bar tinged with buff; wing- 

 coverts narrowly tipped with whitish. Upper tail-coverts broadly edged with whitish, and 

 more or less marked with irregular, usually V-shaped, lines of the same. Tail-feathers 

 dusky, edged with whitish, and with more or l^ss distinct indications of distant bars of the 

 same. Head and neck dingy whitish, tinged with brown on The superior surface, which is 

 heavily streaked with blackish, the other portions more finely and thinly streaked, the 

 throat being nearly immaculate. Rest of the lower parts dingy white, the feathers more 

 grayish beneath the surface; crissum and flanks streaked with dusky, but abdomen, etc., 

 usually immaculate. Young male: Similar to the female, but markings on upper parts more 

 bar-like, and lower parts sometimes almost wholly streaked. Young female (No. 54,633 

 Kadiak, Alaska, Aug. 1, 1868: F. BISCHOFF): Speculum pale broccoli-brown, marbled 

 toward base of feathers with dusky. All the feathers of the upper parts conspicuously and 

 broadly bordered with buffy white, lower parts everywhere densely streaked with dusky. 

 Downy young: Above grayish brown, with a white stripe along each side of the back, a 

 white space on the wing, and a white superciliary stripe. Beneath grayish white, with a 

 very faint yellowish tinge ; a brown stripe behind the eye, and an indistinct space of the same 

 over the ears. 



Male, total length about 26.09-28.00 inches; extent, 36.00; wing, 10.25-11.10; tail 7.25-9. 50; 

 culmen 1.85-2.15; width of bill, .70-. 80; tarsus, 1.55-1.85; middle toe, 1.70-2.10. Female, wing, 

 9.60-10.10; tail, 4.50-5.00; culmen 1.80-2. 10; width of bill .65-. 75; tarsus, 1.65; middle toe, 1.80. 



The range of individual variation of the colors in this species 

 is very slight, consisting of differences that are scarcely worthy 

 of mention. European specimens, however, differ very apprecia- 

 bly from North American ones in narrower speculum, but not 

 in other respects. Two males measure as follows: Wing, 10.30- 

 11.00 inches; tail (elongated middle feathers), 8.50; culmen, 

 1.85-1.95; width of bill, .70-.75; tarsus, 1.40-1.60; middle toe, 

 1,85-1.90.! 



"Breeds in Manitoba and the northern tier of States, and, 

 like the other river ducks, is common during the winter in the 

 Gulf States, and occasionally as far north as Illinois, but it also 

 goes much farther south. It is one of the earliest ducks to 

 migrate and was one of the most abundant of those which so 



1 Sharpe & Dresser ("History of the Birds of Europe," Part xix) give the dimensions of 

 the European Pin-tail as follows : "Total length 2 feet, culmen 2.2 inches ; wing 11,2 inches ; 

 tail. 7.5; tarsus, 1.6." 



