66 QUERQUEDULA ACUTA. 



speculum green and hlack, margined anteriorly with red and 

 posteriorly with white; tail grey ; middle feathers hrownish- 

 hlack ; loioer tail-coverts hlack, the outer partially white. 

 Female with the scapulars, inner secondaries, and tail-feathers 

 less elongated ; the head and neck light reddish, streaked with 

 dusky ; the upper parts hlackish-hrown, the feathers edged 

 and variously barred with reddish-white ; the lower parts 

 yellowish-white, marked with oblong spots of greyish-brown. 



Male in Winter. — The elongated neck, pointed tail, 

 and variegated plumage of this species, render it one of the 

 most elegant of the family to which it helongs. Its head is 

 of moderate size, oblong, compressed, and considerably rounded 

 above. 



The bill is scarcely shorter than the head, nearly straight, 

 rather narrow, higher than broad at the base, gradually 

 depressed toward the end, and slightly Avidened ; the upper 

 mandible with the lateral sinuses broadly rounded, the upper 

 convex, the angles short and rather obtuse, the dorsal line 

 declinate to beyond the nostrils, then nearly straight to the 

 unguis, which is small, ovato-triangular, and decurved at the 

 end, the ridge of moderate breadth, rather concave, and gra- 

 dually narrowed, becoming convex, the sides nearly erect at 

 the base, convex toward the end, the edges slightly sinuous, 

 with about fifty lamellse, of which the narrowly-rounded 

 outer extremities are scarcely apparent ; the nasal sinus 

 small, elliptical, sub-basal, close to the ridge ; lower mandible 

 slightly rearcuate, with the intercrural space very long, nar- 

 row, and bare, the crura slender, gradually flattened, the 

 unguis small, elongated-triangular, slightly convex. 



Nostrils small, elliptical, two-twelfths long. Eyes small. 

 Legs very short ; tarsus compressed, with fifteen anterior 

 small scutella, and ten outer, the rest reticulated with small 

 angular scales. The first toe very small ; the second much 

 shorter than the fourth, which is considerably exceeded by 

 the third, the latter with thirty-two scutella ; the interdigital 

 membranes nearly even, and crenato-denticulate. The claAvs 

 are small, little arched, compressed, rather obtuse, that of the 

 third toe with the inner edge a little expanded. 



