ANATIN^ — THE DUCKS — QUERQUEDULA. 



535 



with a central stripe of buff ; longer scapulars similar, the outermost feathers with the outer webs 

 light blue ; lesser wing-coverts plain light blue ; middle coverts dusky, tipped with white ; specu- 

 lum uniform green, var3'ing from metallic grass-green to bronze ; primaries and primary-coverts 

 dusky ; upper tail-coverts dusky, edged with pale fulvous ; rectrices dusky, edged with brownish 

 white or pale brownish gray ; axillars immaculate pure white. Bill deep black ; iris orange ; 

 feet orange, joints and webs blackish. Adult female : Similar to that of Q. discors, but larger and 





Q. cyanoptera. 



\ 



deeper colored, only the upper part of the throat (sometimes only the chin) unstreaked, the abdo- 

 men usually distinctly spotted ; jugulum deeply tinged with light brown. Young male : Similar 

 to the adult female, but markings on the lower parts all distinctly longitudinal, or streak-like. 

 Downy young : ^ Above, dark olivaceous, relieved by a longitudinal oblong oblique spot of deep 

 greenish buff on each side the back (behind 

 the wings), and a similar spot of clearer yel- 

 lowish on each side of the base of the tail ; 

 the anterior spots confluent with the yellow 

 of the sides, the posterior ones isolated by the 

 extension beneath them of the olivaceous of 

 the tail. Pileum and nape similar to the back, 

 but darker ; forehead, broad superciliary stripe, 

 and rest of the head and neck, except as de- 

 scribed, with entire lower parts, deep yellow- 

 ish buff, the side of the head marked with a 

 distinct narrow stripe of dark brown extend- 

 ing from the upper base of the maxilla to the 

 eye. thence back to the occiput. 



Total length (adult), about 15.50-16.50 

 inches ; extent, 24.00-24.50 ; wing, 7.20-7.75 ; 

 culmen, 1.65-1.85 ; tarsus, 1.25-1.35; middle 

 toe, 1.40-1.50. 



Examples from Chili and Buenos Ayres are larger and more richly colored than those from the 

 Western United States ; the white bar across the end of the middle coverts narrower, and nearly 

 concealed by the overlying last row of lesser coverts. These differences, however, may not prove 

 constant. 



The female of this species is very difficult to distinguish from that of Q. discors, and it is prob- 

 ably not possible always to separate them with certainty. The present species averages consid- 

 erably larger, however ; the wing in the adult female ranging from 7.20 to 7.50 inches, the culmen 

 1.70 to 1.75, against 6.70 to 7.00, and 1.40 to 1.50, as in Q. discors. The colors are also deeper. 





Male a nat. size). 



1 Described from No. 77549, Washoe Lake, Nev., June 2, 1877 ; H. W. Hexshaw. 



