No. V.] 



ZOOLOGY. 



701 



wings 



darkest at the points ; tail black, greatly tapering, containing eighteen narrow 



y 



pointed feathers ; the plumage of the breast and upper part of the neck is of a 

 remarkable kind, being dusky olive at bottom, ending in hard bristly points of a 

 silvery grey, very much resembling the hair of some kinds of seal skins ; all these are 

 thickly marked with transverse curving lines of deep brown; belly and vent silver- 

 grey, thickly crossed with dusky olive ; under tail-coverts white ; legs and feet ash- 

 coloured ." 



He describes the female as " partly of the same size as the male ; the front, 

 lores, and crown, deep blackish-brown ; bill as in the male, very broad at the 

 extremity, and largely toothed on the sides, of the same rich blue ; cheeks a dull 

 cream ; neck plain dull drab, sprinkled about the auriculars with blackish ; lower 

 part of the neck and breast variegated with grey, ash, and reddish-brown ; the 

 reddish dies off towards the belly, leaving this last of a dull white shaded with dusky 

 ash; wings as in the male; tail brown; scapulars dusky-brown thickly sprinkled 

 with whitish, giving them a grey appearance ; legs ash." 



The whole plumage is certainly very singular, the neck in the specimen appears to 

 be very thick, the bill is particularly broad, the body thick, and the tail is remarkable 

 in the feathers being so very narrow. 



Anas Albeola. Buffel-headed or Spirit Duck. 



> " * ■ ■ ■ * 



This species is common in the United States in winter, and equally abundant in 

 the north during the breeding season. It has received a variety of appellations, and 

 the difference between the sexes has added to its names, since they have been 

 taken for distinct species. Both sexes are well described by Latham in his Synopsis. 

 Specimens of a male and female were received. The male is the A. Albeola and 

 A. Bucephala of Linnaeus, the Little Black and White Duck of Edwards, the Sarcelle 

 blanche et noire ou La Religicuse and Petit Canard a grosse tete of Buffon, the 

 Buffel-headed Duck of Catesby, the Spirit-Duck of Pennant, and is known to the 

 Canadian settlers also as the Conjuring Duck. The female is the A. Rustica of 



• 



Linnaeus, the Sarcelle de la Caroline of Buffon, and the Little Brown Duck of Catesby, 

 Latham, and Pennant. 



Anas Discors. Blue- winged Teal. 



Two specimens, both males, differing a little from each other, and marked as 

 killed at Carlton-House, and there called the Shoe-string Duck, were received : these 

 have not their heads and necks so dark as are described by authors, nor do the de- 

 scription of authors generally agree. The female is said to differ from the male by 

 being generally brighter, and in not having the white mark in the head, but the bright 



