228 MERGANSER CUCULLATUS. 



length. The wings are very short, narrow, convex, and 

 pointed ; the primaries stout, tapering, pointed, the outer two 

 sinuate on the inner web toward the end, the first longest, 

 the second scarcely shorter, the rest rapidly decreasing ; the 

 secondaries thirteen, the outer short, incurvate, obliquely 

 rounded, the inner tapering and elongated. The tail short, 

 straight, much rounded, of eighteen rather narrow, obtusely 

 pointed feathers, of which the outer is an inch and a half 

 shorter than the medial. 



The bill is black, with the unguis whitish. The iris 

 yellow. The feet yellowish-brown, the claws dusky. The 

 upper part of the head is brownish-black, w ith a large patch 

 of white on each side behind the eye, conspicuous in the 

 erected crest ; the rest of the head, the neck half-Avay down, 

 two semi-lunar bands before the wings, and the hind part of 

 the neck greenish-black ; the upper parts of the body brown- 

 ish-black, the tail greyish-black ; the smaller wing-coverts 

 partly deep grey ; the primary quills and their coverts brown- 

 ish-black ; the outer secondary quills and coverts greenish- 

 black, toward the end white, the inner white, with black 

 margins. The lower parts are white, but the sides finely 

 undulated with yellowish-brown and brownish-black, and the 

 lower tail-coverts are similarly marked ; the axillars and 

 some of the lower wing-coverts white, the rest gi'ey. 



Length to end of tail 19 inches ; extent of wings 28 ; 

 wing from flexure 7^ ; tail 4^^ ; bill along the ridge 1\^, 

 along the edge of lower mandible 1\y> its height at the base 

 -j^, its breadth behind the unguis -^ ; tarsus 1 j-^ ; first 

 toe -j%, its claw -^ ; second toe 1^, its claw -^ ; third toe 

 1-fl, its claw -j^ ; fourth toe l^^, its claw -^. 



Female. — The female, which is much smaller, has the 

 crest less elongated, and composed of more slender feathers 

 of looser texture. The upper mandible is dusky, w ith the 

 margins orange, and the unguis whitish ; the lower mandible 

 dull orange, dusky near the unguis, which is whitish. The 

 feet are olivaceous. The upper part of the head and the nape 

 are reddish-brown ; the sides of the head, and the upper half 

 of the neck greyish-brown, but the throat brownish-white. 



