428 Dr. A, Hall on the Mammals and Birds 



tip, and the rictus, which are light blue ; legs and feet blackish 

 brown; irides yellow; eggs unknown. 



Dorsal aspect. Frontlet blackish brown ; crown, checks, upper 

 part of neck, and nuchal region, black, with a violet purple irides- 

 cence ; collar round the neck dark chesnut ; remainder of the 

 neck, shoulders, interscapulary region, rump, and tail coverts 

 brownish black, with a minute sprinkling of white on the scapu- 

 lars ; wing coverts and tail brown ; primaries blackish brown, 

 paler on the inner webs ; long scapulars blackish green ; speculum 

 blueish ash, bounded superiorly and internally, by blackish green. 



Ventral aspect. Chin white; throat to the collar blackish 

 brown ; breast black ; belly white ; vent, sides, and flanks, white, 

 waved with zigzag lines of clove brown ; sides of the rump and 

 tail coverts brownish black. 



1st primary longest; length 18^ inches; alar expanse 26 

 inches ; length of bill from the frontal feathers 2 inches 2 lines. 

 In the female the dorsal plumage is dark brown edged, as also on 

 the breast, with chesnut. 



Genus Mergus, 



Gen. Char. Bill moderately long, slender, and straight, sudden- 

 ly narrowing from a broad base, the edges serrated, and with 

 subulate and sharp teeth inclining backwards ; nostrils lateral and 

 subcentral ; tongue short and subulate, with recurved papillae ; 

 legs short, placed far back on the abdomen, with full webs ; hind 

 toe touching the ground at its tip, and furnished with a mem- 

 brane. 



M. serrator. Red-breasted Merganser. 

 M. serrator. Baird ! 



v.s.p. Bill brownish on the ridge, orange at the sides, and on 

 the lower mandible ; legs and feet red ; irides red ; eggs 8 to 13, 

 bluish white. 



Dorsal aspect. Head and neck jet black, with dark green iri- 

 descence ; occipital crest black, composed of long slender feathers ; 

 collar round the throat white, with a black mesial nuchal line; 

 remainder of the throat chesnut brown, the feathers bordered with 

 black ; interscapulary region, short, and inner long scapulars, 

 jet black ; rump grey, waved with irregular lines of white ; tail 

 coverts cinereous, with pale edgings; tail hoary greyish brown; 

 shoulders white, the feathers broadly edged with jet black ; 

 outer short scapulars, inner wing coverts, and outer long scapulars, 



