630 BERNICLA BRENTA. 



dentiform extremities are scarcely apparent, the unguis 

 nearly circular, very convex ; the lower mandible with the 

 intercrural space very long, rather wide, anteriorly rounded, 

 the lower outline of the crura slightly convex, their sides 

 convex, the edges soft, with about forty lamella?, the unguis 

 roundish, moderately convex. 



The nostrils are medial, lateral, longitudinal, oblong, 

 three-twelfths in length, pervious, in the anterior part of the 

 elliptical nasal space, which is filled by membrane. The eyes 

 are small ; the feet short and stout ; the tibia bare for a third 

 of an inch ; the tarsus short, compressed, covered all round 

 with small angular scales. The hind toe is extremely small, 

 elevated, with two small scutella; the second toe with 

 eighteen scutella, and much shorter than the third, which 

 has thirty-two, while the outer, a little shorter, has about 

 twenty-four, they being all scaly at the base. The hind toe 

 has a slight inferior web, the second an expanded thin two- 

 lobed margin ; the interdigital membranes reticulated, the 

 outer with its margin concave. The claws are small, arcuate, 

 rather depressed, obtuse, that of the middle toe with its inner 

 side expanded. 



The plumage is close, compact, and glossy ; on the head 

 and neck the feathers blended, small, oblong ; on the fore 

 part of the back and wings broad and abruptly rounded ; on 

 the hind part smaller and ovate ; on the lower parts large, 

 broadly rounded ; on the sides very large. The wings are 

 long, extending a little beyond the tail, broad, with twenty- 

 eight quills ; the primaries strong, tapering, the first and 

 second much cut out on the inner web, the second and third 

 on the outer ; the second longest, the first slightly shorter, 

 the rest rapidly decreasing ; the secondaries broad and 

 rounded, the inner elongated, with their outer webs some- 

 what undulated. The tail is very short, rounded, of sixteen 

 moderately broad, rounded feathers. 



The bill is black ; the iris hazel ; the feet black. The 

 head and neck are glossy black, tinged with blue. There is 

 a small semilunar white mark on the lower eyelid, and on 

 each side of the upper part of the neck an obliquely elliptical 

 patch of the same colour, the two patches almost meeting 



