RED-HEADED POCHARD. 105 



inch thick ; the epithelium rather thin, dense, slightly rugous, 

 with two circular grinding plates of thicker texture ; the 

 upper part forming a small pyloric sac ; the pylorus without 

 valve. The intestine is five feet four inches long, four- 

 twelfths in width at its upper part, at the middle six and a 

 half-twelfths, near the coeca five-twelfths. The coeca seven 

 inches long, nearly cylindrical, four-twelfths in w idth, a little 

 narrower toward their commencement, and five and a half 

 inches distant from the extremity of the intestine. 



The nostrils are oblong, three-twelfths in length, sub- 

 medial, near the ridge, pervious ; the eyes small, thiee- 

 twelfths across ; the aperture of the ear only a twelfth and a 

 half. The feet are very short, and placed rather far behind ; 

 the tarsus very short, compressed, with seventeen anterior 

 small scutella, eight outer scutella, the rest covered with 

 angular scales. The hind toe small, with eleven double 

 scales, and a narrow inferior membrane ; the inner toe with 

 thirty scutella, the third thirty-six, the fourth forty ; the two 

 outer toes about equal, and nearly double the length of the 

 tarsus ; the interdigital membranes anteriorly emarginate. 

 The claws are small, slender, arched, compressed, obtuse, 

 that of the tliird toe with its inner edge expanded. 



The plumage is dense, soft, glossy, and blended ; the 

 feathers of the fore part of the head small, and stiifish ; of the 

 rest of the head and neck very soft, and silky ; of the lower 

 neck obovate and abrupt. The wings are short, curved, nar- 

 row, and pointed; the primaries strong, tapering, the first 

 longest, the second slightly shorter, the rest rapidly decreas- 

 ing ; the secondaries fifteen, broadly rounded, the outer some- 

 what emarginate, the inner elongated and tapering. The 

 tail is very short, much rounded, of fourteen stifRsh, narrowly 

 rounded feathers. 



The bill is black to a little beyond the nostrils, and at the 

 end, the intermediate space light greyish-blue. The iris 

 orange-yellow. The feet leaden-grey, with the webs and 

 claws black. The head and half of the neck all round are of 

 a fine brownish-orange tint ; the lower part of the neck 

 brownish-black, the terminal filaments of its anterior part 

 stiffish, glossy, and greyish- white ; the hind part of the back 



