BIMACULATED DUCK. 43 



than the preceding, I adopt the description of it given by 

 M. Temniinck : — " Upper part of the head deep chestnut ; 

 cheeks and sides of the neck glossy bottle-green ; in the 

 midst of this shining colour are two light red spots^ one 

 before and beneath the eye, the other on the side of the neck 

 beneath the ear ; breast (or lower fore neck) bright red, 

 marked with round black spots ; mantle, scapulars, flanks, 

 and thighs marked with black, undulating, close, and very 

 narrow lines, regularly distributed on a pale grey ground ; 

 the longest of the scapulars narrow, acuminate, velvet-black 

 along the shafts and on the outer barbs, and light red on the 

 inner ; wing-coverts brownish-grey ; the mirror of a beautiful 

 bottle-green, defined anteriorly by a light reddish band, 

 behind by a band of white ; rump, upper and lower tail- 

 coverts, and two middle tail-feathers blackish-green, but the 

 rest of the tail-feathers pale brown, margined with white ; a 

 crescentic band of cream-colour separates the blackish-green 

 of the feathers, under the tail, from the whitish tint of the 

 abdomen. Bill olive-brown, yellowish at the base ; feet 

 brown. Length from sixteen to seventeen (French) inches." 



Female. — " The female has the head and neck of a 

 brownish-cream colour, marked with very small black spots ; 

 the upper parts of a blackish-brown, each feather bordered 

 with reddish-brown ; lower fore neck of a reddish-brown 

 tint, but all the feathers black in the middle ; smaller Aving- 

 coverts brow^nish-grey ; the speculum green, Avith purple- 

 gloss at its upper part, black toward the primaries, Avhere 

 these feathers are bordered Avith AA'hite ; primaries and tail 

 broAvn, the feathers of the latter margined Avith reddish-Avhite ; 

 loAver parts greyish-Avhite ; the feet of an orange tint. 



Yariatioxs. — " It appears that the males vary greatly in 

 the tints of their plumage, and in that of the tAvo large spots 

 on the neck, as Avell as in their outline. I have seen a male 

 only in part covered Avith the variegated plumage of that sex, 

 Avhile all the rest Avas as in the female, but patched here and 

 there with some feathers of the male ; the top of the head only 

 haA'ing red at the tips of the feathers, and the rest black ; tlie 



