134 



TOTIPALMATE SWIMMERS — STEGANOPODES. 



Bill cbiofly orange, paler on the culiueii, the nails and edges of the maxilla and mandible more 

 reddish ; mandible deeper red than tlie maxilla, growing almost brick-red basally ; ponch dirty- 

 whitish anteriorly, where sufFused with blackish, passing successively through yellow and orange 

 into intense dragon's-blood, or brick-red, at the base ; lower edge of the mandible sometimes black- 



P. erythrorhynchos, breeding -dress. 



ish, and side of the mandible sometimes marked, nearly opposite the maxillary crest, with a some- 

 what <|uadrate black spot ; bare skin of the lores and orbital region rich orange-yellow ; eyelids 

 dark-reddish ; iris pearl-white ; legs and feet intense orange-red.^ Adult, during latter part of the 

 breeding -season : Similar to the above, but maxillary excrescence wanting (having been cast), and 

 the nuchal crest replaced by a patch of brownish gray. Adult, in fall and winter : Similar to 

 the last, but no grayish patch on the occiput (crest also absent), the bill and feet clear yellow. 

 Young : Similar to the winter adult, but lesser wing-coverts brownish gray centrally, the pileum 



similarly marked ; jugular feathers 

 short and broad, and pure white, 

 like the other feathers of tlie lower 

 surface ; bill, pouch, and feet pale 

 yellow. 



Total length, about 62.00 inches ; 

 extent, 8.50-9.00 feet; wing, 22 

 .25-25.25 inches; culmen, 11.30 

 -13.85 ; tarsus, 4.30-4.65 ; middle 

 toe, 3,70-4.25.2 Weight of adult, 

 about 17 pounds. 



Individual variation, both in 

 size and in the details of colora- 

 tion, is very considerable in this 

 species. Most descriptions of the 

 perfectly adult bird say that the 

 plumage is tinged witli peach-blos- 

 som pink ; but in only a single 

 example among the very large 

 number examined by us (includ- 

 ing both skins and freshly killed 

 birds) was the faintest trace of this 

 color visible, and that confined to a few feathers of the back. The straw-yellow color of the 

 narrow jugular feathers and lesser wing-coverts, however, seems to be always a characteristic of the 



A viaxillary crest of rather exceptional reijidarity. 



^ Taken from specimens freshly killed, in May, at Pyramid Lake, Nevada ; the iris is said to be 

 sometimes hazel. 



2 The average of a series of eight adult examples is as follow.s : Wing, 23.55 inches ; culmen, 12.62 ; 

 tarsu!5, 4.50 ; middle toe, 3.98. 



