236 MERGUS ALBELLUS 



have already very correctly cx])lained ; and to see it in the 

 present or in any other instance, one has only to hold the 

 extended trachea betMxen him and a stron^^ light. 



The plumage is full, soft, firm, and blended. The fea- 

 thers of the upper part of the head and the nape are elongated, 

 linear-ohlong, decurved, Avith disunited filaments, forming a 

 gradually narrowed crest ; of the rest of the head and upper 

 neck small and soft ; of the lower parts oblong, firm, and 

 glossy, of the sides elongated and curved; of the shoulders 

 abrupt, of the upper parts ovate ; the scapulars long. The 

 wings are short, rather narrow, convex, and pointed, of 

 twenty-six feathers; the primaries stout, tapering, pointed, 

 the outer two sinuate on the inner web toward the end, the 

 first longest, the second almost equal, the rest rapidly decreas- 

 ing ; the secondaries sixteen, the outer short, inciirvate, ob- 

 liquely abrupt, the inner tapeiing to an obtuse point. The 

 tail short, straight, graduated, of sixteen rather narrow, ob- 

 tusely pointed feathers, of which the outer is an inch and 

 two-twelfths shorter than the medial. The wings when 

 closed reach to an inch and three-quarters from the end of 

 the tail. 



The bill is greyish-blue, with the unguis gi-eyish-white. 

 The iris bright red. The feet light greyish-blue, the webs 

 dusky ; the claws brown, lighter on the ridge. The elon- 

 gated feathers on the head and nape are white ; a broad 

 patch on the fore part of the cheek and lore, continuous by 

 means of a narrow' band with a patch bordering the crest 

 behind, and crossing the occiput, greenish-black ; the rest of 

 the head, throat, neck, and lower parts white; the upper 

 part of the sides minutely undulated with ash-grey ; some of 

 the smaller wing-coverts and the axillars w^hite, the rest 

 grey. A narrow crescentic band across the lower hind-neck, 

 a short transverse bar on each side before the wing, the 

 middle of the back, the anterior edge of the wing, and the 

 outer edges of the outer and inner webs of the inner sca- 

 pulars, black ; the rest of the scapulars and the smaller 

 wing-coverts white. The alula, primary coverts, and quills 

 brownish-black ; the secondary quills and coverts deep 

 greenish-black, tipped with white, one of them white on 



