RED-BREASTED GOOSANDER. 219 



The plumage is full, close, and firm ; the feathers curved ; 

 those of the head linear, soft, glossy, with velvety texture ; 

 on the crown elongated into a longitudinal crest of linear 

 feathers Avith disunited filaments, two tufts more elongated 

 than the rest, the longest three inches and a quarter in 

 length. The feathers of the upper parts are generally broad, 

 of the lower narrow, all rounded and blended. The lower 

 surface is glossy, as in the Grebes and many Ducks. The 

 wings are short, convex, of moderate breadth, and pointed, 

 of twenty-seven quills. The primaries tapering, stiff, the 

 first longest, the rest rapidly diminishing; the secondaries 

 sixteen, the outer broad, incurved, rounded, the inner long 

 and tapering. There are six humerals, and the scapulars 

 are long and tapering. The tail is very short, much rounded, 

 and emarginate, of eighteen tapering feathers, of which the 

 lateral are an inch and ten-twelfths shorter than the medial. 



The bill is deep vermilion, with the ridge somewhat 

 dusky, the unguis pale yellowish-grey. The iris blood-red. 

 The feet deep vermilion externally, paler internally, the 

 webs of a duller tint, the claws light grey. The head is 

 black, its sides glossed with green ; its upper, lower, and 

 hind parts tinged with purplish-blue. A band of black runs 

 down the hind-neck ; a broad band of white across the 

 narrow part of the neck ; the lower part of the neck ante- 

 riorly and laterally is light red, streaked and undulated with 

 brownish-black. The lower parts of the body are glossy 

 white, with a faint tinge of cream-colour ; the sides under 

 the wings, the outer tibial feathers, and the lateral inferior 

 tail-coverts, minutely undulated with black. The axillars 

 and lower wing-coverts white, the larger grey. The lower 

 part of the neck behind, and the fore part of the back, glossy 

 black. A tuft of large feathers anterior to the shoulder- 

 joint white, with broad black margins. The inner long sca- 

 pulars purplish-black, the outer white. The upper wing- 

 coverts are brownish-grey, but the larger are white, forming 

 a transverse patch of that colour. The alula, primary 

 coverts, primaries, aud four outer secondaries are blackish- 

 brown, as are the outer four secondary coverts ; the rest of 

 the secondary quills and coverts are black at the base, white 



