172 CLANGULA HISTRIONICA. 



Female. — The female has the bill and feet dull greyish- 

 blue ; the iris brown. The general colour of the plumage is 

 greyish-brown, darker on the upper Y)art of the head, and 

 hind part of the back, lighter on the fore neck, and mottled 

 or barred with gi'eyish-white on the breast. Before the eye is 

 a broAvnish-while patch, and behind the ear a roundish-white 



SJJOt. 



Length to end of tail 15|^ inches; extent of wings 24; 

 wing from flexure 8;^ ; tail Sj ; bill along the ridge 1^^ ; 

 tarsus 1^ ; middle toe 1-^, its claw jtj. 



Habits. — This species, of which the adult male is a re- 

 markably beautiful, and singularly variegated bird, while the 

 female and young are almost as remarkable for the dullness 

 of their tints, is described as of common occurrence on the 

 eastern coasts of North America, breeding in suitable places, 

 from the Bay of Fundy to the highest latitudes visited. It is 

 said to be abundant in the north-eastern parts of Europe, and 

 in the north of Asia, but to be seldom met with along the 

 shores of our continent. Its food, consisting chiefly of mol- 

 lusca, larva?, insects, and Crustacea, is obtained by diving. 

 The nest, composed of dry plants, is lined Avith down, and the 

 eggs, five or six in number, according to Mr. Audubon, 

 measure two inches and a sixteenth in length, an inch and 

 four-eighths and a half in breadth, their colour a uniform 

 greenish-yellow. 



A few instances of its occurrence in Britain are mentioned. 

 Montagu first added it " to the list of British bii-ds, on the 

 authority of Mr. Sow'erby, in whose collection of the more 

 rare English birds," he says, " we had an opportunity of exa- 

 mining both sexes, which were killed on the domain of Lord 

 Scaforth in Scotland, a few years since, and presented to him 

 by that nobleman." It is also said to have been obtained in 

 Orkney, at Yarmouth, in Devonshire, and in Cheshire. 



Young. — The young in their first winter resemble the 



adult female, having the upper parts of a sooty-brown, the 



loAver of a lighter brown, undulated with greyish-white ; the 

 forehead and anterior part of the cheeks brownish-white. 



