ANATIX^ — THE DUCKS — HISTRIONICUS. 



53 



and the white bar on the sides of the breast bordered on each side by deep blue-black ; rump, 

 upper tail-coverts, and crissum deep blue-black ; abdomen dark sooty grayish, blending insensibly 

 into the plumbeous of the breast and the black of the crissum, but distinctly defined against the 

 rufous of the sides and flanks ; wing-coverts plumbeous-slate ; primaries and rectrices dusky black ; 

 secondaries (" speculum ") metallic dark violet-blue ; tertials white, the outer webs edged with 



W 



Female {natural size), 



black, the inner with dark plumbeous. Bill light yellowish olive, the extreme tip paler ; iris red- 

 dish brown ; feet pale-bluish, the webs dusky, the claws whitish. Immature male (2(? year ?) ; Pat- 

 tern of the head-markings same as in the preceding, but the plumbeous much duller, the black stripe 

 of the pileum dusky, the rufous on the sides of the crown and occiput wanting, or but faintly indi- 

 cated. Upper parts in general nearly uniform dusky grayish brown, without well-defined white 

 anywhere, no blue-black, and the speculum dull dusky 

 brownish gray, with little, if any, gloss. Lower parts 

 grayish white, each feather marked with a subterminal 

 transverse spot of grayish brown, the sides, flanks, and 

 crissum nearly uniform grayish brown ; no rufous on 

 sides or flanks, and collar round the lower neck imper- 

 fect, or only slightly indicated. Adult female : Some- 

 what similar to the male, but the head, neck, and jugulum 

 grayish brown, with a distinct white spot on the auricu- 

 lar region, and the lores and sides of the forehead in- 

 clining to white. Jngi;lum, sides, flanks, and crissum 



entirely uniform grayish brown. "Bill and feet dull 

 bluish gray ; iris brown" (Audubon). Young: Similar 

 to the adult female, but above browner and more uni- 

 form, the jugulum, sides, flanks, and crissum tirfged with 

 umber. 



Total length, about 17.50 inches ; extent, 27.00 ; wing, 

 7.40 to nearly 8.00; culmen, 1.05-1.10; tarsus, 1.50; Male. 



middle toe, 2.00. Female slightly smaller. 



The Harlequin Duck seems to be nowhere a common species, but to be found 

 chiefly in the more northern or mountainous regions of both continents during the 

 summer, appearing only occasionally here and there on the sea-coasts, and upon open 

 interior waters at very irregular periods, and usually only singly or in pairs. In 

 reference to the geographical range of this species in the Palsearctic Eegion, Pro- 

 fessor Alfred ISTeAv-ton is of the opinion that, with the exception of Iceland and East- 

 ern Asia, it occurs only as an accidental straggler on that continent. It is not known 

 as a bird of Lapland ; it has not been ascertained to occur in European Kussia, but 



