SPIRIT DUCK. 445 



the under plumage, pure white. Space round the thighs, the tail, 

 and its lateral under coverts, broccoli-brown. Bill blackish. Leo-s 

 orange ; webs black. — The feathers of the forehead terminate 

 on the bill in a semicircular outline. The plumage of the occiput 

 and nape, longer than in the Common Golden Eye, and forming a 

 more decided crest. Wings 2^ inches shorter than the tail. 



In the female, the head and adjoining part of the neck are umber- 

 brown, and without any white mark. Dorsal plumage pitch-black ; 

 its anterior part, particularly the shoulders and the base of the neck 

 all round, edged with ash-grey. A white collar round the middle of 

 the neck. Flanks clove-brown, edged with white. Intermediate 

 coverts blotched with white and black ; greater coverts white, tipped 

 with black. Secondaries as in the male. Both mandibles orange at 

 the point, their tips and posterior points black. Feet as in the 

 male. 



SPIRIT DUCK. 



(Fuligida tiJbcola, Boxap. Synops. No. 343. Clangula albc.ola, Rich. 

 and Swains. North. Zool. ii. p. 458. .^nas alhcola, Li.vn. Fors- 

 TER, Phil. Trans. Ixii. p. 416. No. 47. Spirit Duck, (Ji. albeolaj 

 Penn. Arct. Zool. ii. No. 487. BufFel Duck, (Anas buccphala.) 

 LiN. Penn. ii. No. 489. BulFel-headed Duck, (Anas albeoJa,) 

 Wilson, viii. p. 51. pi. 67. fig. 2. [male.] fig. 3. [female.] The 

 little Black and White Duck, Edwards, pi. 100. [male.] Le petit 

 Canard a grosse tcte, Biff. Ois. ix. p. 249. Pi Enlum. 948. 

 Catesby, i. p. 95. Phil. Museum, No. 2730.) 



Sp. Charact. — Speculum and under wing coverts white; tail 

 rounded, composed of 16 feathers. — Male varied with black and 

 white ; head tumid, green and auricula-purple : a large whits 

 space passing over the top of the head to each eye. Female sooty 

 black, with a white spot on each side of the head. 



This very elegant little Dack, so remarkable for its ex- 

 pertness in diving and disappearing from the sight, is 

 another of these species, like the Golden Eye, to which the 

 aborigines have given the name of Spirit or Conjurer, from 

 the impunity with which it usually escapes at the flash of 

 38 



